At Flinders Medical Centre Allied Health Weekend Services Improves Average LOS

At Flinders Medical Centre there was limited access to Allied Health (AH) services on weekends for acute patients at Flinders Medical Centre (FMC), despite overall activity of the hospital remaining constant across 7 days.

In an effort to increase staffing, 6 months of pilot funding was approved in May 2016 for additional 3.0 FTE with increased weekend Allied Health services commencing June 2016 to cover the winter demand period. Additional positions included:
• Physiotherapy: 2 additional clinicians (Full day Sat & Sun)
• Occupational Therapy: 2 clinicians (Full day Sat & Sun)
• Social Work: 1 clinician (Full day Sat & Sun)
• Dietetics: 2 clinicians (Full day Sat & Sun, and ½ day Sat & Sun)
• Speech Pathology: 1 additional clinician (Full day Sat & Sun)

As a result, Flinders has noted that the average length of stay for targeted Clinical Units is lower than the baseline.