New horizons have dawned at PA Hospital’s Specialty Outpatient Department (OPD), where A/Nurse Unit Manager (A/NUM) Schonnel Gosson is leading the charge on the unit’s biggest expansion to date.
In just four months, the Ground Floor C unit has extended to the newly outfitted Specialty Outpatients space at Building 15 Level 2, significantly increasing capacity for Metro South’s busiest OPD service and easing the pressure across OPD specialties.
As she clocks 20 years as Clinical Nurse Consultant (CNC) at Orthopaedics and 28 years in nursing, Schonnel says it was her passion for improving the patient experience and access to healthcare that drew her to the project.
“I love working with lots of different specialties and different clinical and non-clinical staff. I’ve worked in lots of diverse roles and wanted to try something that my personality and experience would complement,” she said.
“I manage well under pressure. I’m used to working with a large, complex team and I like the diversity and strengths that everyone brings to the table.”
In a testament to the project’s early success, Schonnel says the new OPD space has increased patient throughput by hundreds in its first month, a promising start to the continuously evolving unit.
“The service has grown each week since the launch, as more clinics systematically open and you can see the benefits straightaway. Our utilisation is around 60 per cent as of mid-March, and that will continue to grow to 80 or 90 per cent as more clinics come online,” she said.
“It’s exciting to think that we could increase new patient throughput from the existing 30,000 to up to 50,000 each year.”
With the new space easing pressure at key areas across the hospital, Schonnel says the positive impact of the expansion should not be underestimated.
“We are not only helping hundreds more patients each week than we were previously, but we’ve also been able to create space across 4A Outpatients, 2C Outpatients and Renal Outpatients.
“To see how much work goes into getting patients through the clinics really highlights that Outpatients is just as important as every other unit. We're also seeing a lot more of the acute patients and a lot more procedures happening in the Outpatient space.”
Liaising with everyone including tradesmen, administrators, clinicians and Executive Leadership, Schonnel champions the collective efforts of all involved in the B15 Specialty OPD Expansion.
“This was truly a team effort. It’s important to also acknowledge the foundational work completed by Division of Surgery Nurse Manager Sue Rees, whose project on improving ambulatory care services at PAH planted the seed for this project.”
A self-described ‘conduit’ in the multidisciplinary effort, Schonnel’s pivotal contribution to planning and coordinating the launch earned her the February 2024 Staff Engagement Award, which cited her exemplary leadership and collaboration skills.
Congratulations on this honour and thank you for your service to PAH’s outpatients, Schonnel!