Admission & Discharge

West Wimmera Health Service is committed to providing patients with a seamless journey through their admission to hospital and also ensuring services are in place after patients have completed their inpatient stay.

Patients may be admitted as an acute inpatient as an emergency or elective admission.

Emergency patients are those who require urgent admission to hospital and will be admitted after being assessed by a Medical Practitioner in the local GP Surgery or after presenting at one of our Primary Care Casualty departments.

It will be arranged for each patient booked in for elective surgery to attend a pre-admission clinic before their operation to assess their medical history and health status, and address any lifestyle issues that may have an influence on their course of treatment.

Before leaving hospital, each patient is assessed to ensure appropriate services and support are in place before they return home.  This will include assessing whether the patient has someone at home who will be taking care of them following discharge and also if required putting in place additional services to make the period following discharge as comfortable as possible.  Such services may include ‘home help’, ‘district nursing’ and ‘meals on wheels’.

The Admission and Discharge Coordinator will coordinate services for patients before they are admitted and also during their stay in hospital.