Clinical & Nursing Services
The Clinical and Nursing Services (C&NS) Directorate provides a range of clinical, strategic and operational services mostly to adult patients across the correctional environment in NSW. The Directorate has a matrix management structure that facilitates cooperative efforts between service areas to implement and coordinate strategic directions. The Directorate consists of the following service areas which are led by senior managers and clinicians who undertake service planning and determine clinical service requirements:
- Operations and Nursing
- Women’s and Primary Health
- Aboriginal Health
- Population Health
- Practice Development
- Long Bay Hospital
- Drug and Alcohol
Operations & Nursing
Operations and Nursing (O&N) is the operational arm of the Clinical and Nursing Services Directorate. O&N facilitates the development of best practice principles for clinical activities to ensure optimal clinical care with minimal risk. This includes; benchmarking and auditing service delivery, and undertaking a range of quality improvement initiatives to ensure best practice.
Women’s and Primary Health
The Women's and Primary Health Clinical Stream in collaboration with Operations and Nursing provides clinical pathways for disease management, interventions to identify and manage acute and chronic conditions, referrals to specialist services, gender specific services to women in custody and assists both staff and patients to navigate the complex health system in a correctional environment. The Women’s and Primary Health Clinical Stream is responsible for the operational management of General Practitioners, Radiology, Physiotherapy, Optometry, Podiatry, Medical Appointments Unit, Pharmacy, Visiting Specialists, Primary Health Clinical Nurse Consultants, Dentists, Dental Assistants and Dental Therapists.
Aboriginal Health
The principal responsibility of the Aboriginal Health unit is to establish, manage, monitor, and evaluate existing and enhanced health service provision for Aboriginal people in custody both in NSW correctional centres and Juvenile Justice centres. To ensure that Aboriginal patients have access to the full range of services expected in the custodial environment, existing health care services and programs are provided through collaborative partnerships between Justice Health, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (NSW and ACT) and Local Health Districts.
Population Health
The Justice Health Population Health stream has responsibility for the delivery of specialised clinical services across the state. These services reflect those of specialist HIV, hepatitis, sexual health and harm minimisation services in the general community. Clinical services encompass screening for, and management of, both blood borne and sexually transmissible infections, and the co-ordination of specialist hepatitis and immunology services. The Population Health stream provides population focused health improvement initiatives these include health protection, disease prevention including surveillance, infection control, immunisation, communicable diseases outbreak management and environmental health.
Practice Development
The Practice Development Unit was established in June 2010. It is responsible for the strategic planning and implementation of practice development programs/initiatives across Justice Health. This includes facilitating decision-making at all levels of the organisation in terms of operationalising the agreed program of work, leading research initiatives relating to practice development and developing networks and partnerships internally and externally to Justice Health in the area of Practice Development.
Long Bay Hospital
The Long Bay Hospital is a strategic step forward for both Justice Health and CSNSW enabling these partner organisations to respond effectively to the complex health needs of the inmate population of New South Wales and to provide international best practice health care for those in custody. The design of the facility caters for both male and female inpatients and is accessible to all persons throughout the NSW correctional system. Health care services for patients are provided by a multidisciplinary team of clinicians and include specialist medical officers, 24/7 nursing care and a range of allied health consultations.
Long Bay Hospital has three distinct units including:
- Mental Health Unit
- Medical Surgical Unit
- Aged Care and Rehabilitation Unit
Drug and Alcohol
The Drug and Alcohol stream provides risk assessment and management of intoxication and withdrawal from drugs and/or alcohol for all clients on entry to the custodial system. Opioid Substitution Programs (OSP) such as Methadone, Naltrexone, Buprenorphine and Suboxone are provided as per clinical need. The D&A stream facilitates referral to D&A services provided by CS NSW which include individual and group counselling and life style education. Post release care is arranged routinely for any client on an OTP such as Methadone or Buprenorphine to ensure continuity of care.