Social Work
Hospital social workers work with patients, carers and family members with a range of issues, some of which are:
- Adjustment to hospitalisation and/or health condition
- Significant change in care needs and associated supports
- Carer stress
- Family conflict
- Decision to move to Residential Care
- Accessing community resources and services
- Complex discharge planning
- Social isolation.
- Child/ Elder abuse
Social workers commonly provide
- psychosocial assessments and subsequent plans for intervention
- discharge planning
- short term counselling
- advocacy for clients and families with a subsequent plan for intervention
- facilitation of family meetings
- crisis assessment and intervention
- provision of appropriate information and education
- arranging referrals to services within the hospital and the community
Social workers work from a person and family-centred approach that incorporates values such as equity, fairness, self-determination, and recognition of human dignity.
To book a social worker visit while you are
a patient at Western Health, contact the
Nurse In Charge of your ward.
Vision
To provide an excellent Social Work service that strives
to attain best practice standards through direct clinical
practice, professional development, supervision, education,
research, and quality improvement.
We are committed to the pursuit of social
justice, to the enhancement of quality of life, and the
development of the full potential of each individual, group, community, and society.
The Social Work Department comprises of 3 teams across
the 3 sites of Western Health. These teams provide a
service across the entire Health Service with an emphasis
on inpatients. The Social Work Department has a culture of
cooperation and collaboration in its work as part of a
broader multi-disciplinary health team.
