Page 19 - Joondalup Health Campus Annual Report 2017

In 1989 when Dr Barry Vieira started as the Head of Geriatrics at Osborne Park Hospital (OPH), the average length of stay for elderly patients across the WA Health system was about 21 days - double what it is today.
Perth’s northern suburbs looked very different back then. Elderly patients often travelled from Quinns Rocks and Two Rocks straight past the then Wanneroo Hospital to OPH or further for treatment.
The already well-respected Dr Vieira identified this early, along with the opportunity
to expand and improve aged care and rehabilitation services at Wanneroo Hospital.
The next step for Dr Vieira was to see patients at Wanneroo Hospital. Given his experience at Osborne Park hospital he knew what had to be done to grow the service.
He applied for incentivised Medicare funding to appoint a nurse led service and adopted
a new discharge tool for patients who were better suited to move into rehabilitation. Within one year Dr Vieira and his team had reduced the length of time it took to transfer patients requiring rehabilitation from Wanneroo Hospital to OPH from 21 days to just six days.
Dr Vieira was also influential in the 1996 announcement to open 120 new beds at Wanneroo Hospital, including a number dedicated to aged care – a sign of things to come.
Since those humble beginnings when Dr Vieira was the sole geriatrician, he has witnessed some “amazing changes” at our hospital.
In 2017 JHC has three dedicated aged care and rehabilitation wards - two private and one public. In total we have 77 aged care and rehabilitation beds.
But older adult patients are not just treated on these wards. They are treated throughout the hospital and many of them suffer a number of comorbidities.
So it comes as no surprise that geriatricians have a strong understanding of general medicine and are skilled at liaising in other complex medical problems.
According to Dr Vieira, geriatricians also need a good understanding of the limits an older person can tolerate.
Dr Vieira, who remains at the helm of aged care and rehabilitation – both at JHC and OPH, said the role of health workers in the community was equally important.
“If GPs can get the diagnosis right from the outset it is far better for the patient who will
JOONDALUP HEALTH CAMPUS | ANNUAL REPORT 2016/17
17
receive appropriate and targeted treatment early on.
“It also helps take pressure off the hospital’s busy ED and improve patient flow generally making for a more effective hospital.”
Dr Vieira said his team was available to provide support and advice to GPs and health care workers in the community aged care sector.
Over the years, Dr Vieira has served on
a number of committees, including the hospital’s Heads of Departments Medical Advisory Committee (HoDMAC), which he chaired between 1999 and 2004. He remains the Deputy Chair.
It is surprising Dr Vieira has any spare time but when he does he enjoys travel, films, and spending time with his wife and family, including his seven grandchildren.
He also has a keen interest in basketball
– both as a spectator and a participant. So keen is Dr Vieira that he used to play on the hospital’s inter-hospital basketball team.