Multiple services will come together in one large community health centre opening in Dapto on Wednesday.
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Initially 24 people from a variety of community-based health services will work at HealthOne Dapto, on the site of the former Dapto Community Health Centre at 4 Marshall Street.
Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District chief executive Margot Mains said the facility will increase primary health services and will focus on local communities, chronic and complex conditions and children and families.
It will provide child and family services, primary health nurses, dental, aged care support, Aboriginal health services, mental health services, aged care services and drug and alcohol counselling.
And will help health service providers work together with their clients to help prevent illness and reduce the risk and impact of disease and disability and improve the management of chronic disease in the local community.
HealthOne Dapto will also house an oral health facility being relocated from Port Kembla.
"This is fantastic because it brings together all our primary and community health services into one building and allows the team to work in a connected and integrated way," Ms Mains said.
"It is located in the right space for this community, it is close to the railway station and other transport and it is closely connected with the medical hubs that are here including the GP practices.
"It is built for the future in a way that it will not only accommodate the local health district services but other providers so we can work together for the benefit of this community."
Clinical infrastructure manager Albert Vasquez said the new centre is operating under a $100 million NSW Government HealthOne initiative aimed at creating a stronger and more efficient primary health care system by bringing together Commonwealth-funded services and state-funded primary and community health care services.
"We are expanding on all the services that we actually have here and collaborating them together to deliver the best service to patients and clients who live in this area," he said.
Nurse unit manager Ashlie Taylor said the community health nursing team will use the new facility as a base for clinic and home visiting services.
"Clients will access the centre for wound care, catheter management, drain management, palliative care support and a whole range of other services that are provided by our team," Ms Taylor said.
"We anticipate we will be running about three clinics a day here.
"We are also going to be moving the Illawarra Leg Ulcer Clinic out of Port Kembla Hospital to this site at Dapto.
"That clinic is a collaboration between GPs and the community health nursing team.
"Clients with complex chronic leg ulcers are referred into that service. They are seen by wound care nurse specialists and the GP and a plan of care is developed.
"The public transport access and the fact this is a community health building has led us to move that particular service here."
The health district's first HealthOne centre opened in Milton-Ulladulla late last year.
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Greg Ellis
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
