Projects 2001-02
In April 2002 approval was received from the Department of Health for NCHN's initial round of submissions for funded projects and initiatives to support staff providing health services to children. The projects were:
Whole of Network
Hunter, Mid North Coast and New England - combined
Hunter Kaleidoscope
- Paediatric Ambulatory Care Service
- Three 2-day Workshops for GPs and nurses
- Rural GP Paediatric Rotation Program
Central Coast
- Clinical skills and professional development in acute care
- Educational opportunities in specialty areas
- Benchmarking opportunities
- Clinical skills development
in innovative respiratory support
Mid-North Coast
- Professional development of nursing staff at Coffs Harbour Hospital
- Professional development of physiotherapy staff at Coffs Harbour Hospital
- Advanced Paediatric Life Support Course
- Paediatric Resuscitation and Life Support Education workshop Manning Base Hospital
- Secondments from Port Macquarie Base Hospital
- Secondments from Manning Base Hospital
In addition to carrying forward the projects that have received funding, the NCHN were active in other areas, such as:
- Clinical guidelines were widely discussed with rural practitioners and the first drafts distributed for comment by doctors and nurses working with children
- A joint meeting of the rural and metropolitan partners was held on
14 June 2002 at Port Macquarie which:
- evaluated progression of the Network so far
- discussed the implementation and success of projects
- floated further proposals for the 2002/2003 financial year
- Medical Specialist Outreach Programme funding was sought and $70,000 was granted to provide programmes for specialist outreach clinics and education opportunities for rural clinicians in the Hunter Area Health Service. The first clinic and education session was held in Muswellbrook in November 2002. These continue to date.
- The Network applied for and was successful in gaining funding from 'One-Off Grants to Rural Areas' to support specialist medical education and training which was used to establish the Northern Child Health Network web site.