August 2021
Managing your care. A guide to help young people transition from Queensland Children’s Hospital to adult kidney care.
The Children’s Health Queensland Adolescent and Young Adult transition guide “Managing your care”, has been published. Developed by the Child and Adolescent Renal Service in partnership with Advancing Care 2026 and the Statewide Renal Clinical Network, this guide is for young persons (aged 12 years and over) and their families who are under the care of the Queensland Children’s Hospital (QCH) kidney team. It aims to help personal growth towards self-management of health care, alongside the rest of life, whilst preparing for the ‘transition’ from the QCH to adult kidney care services.
Further project details are available on the CEQ Improvement Exchange.
Since August 2019, Advancing Kidney Care 2026 has facilitated distribution of funding for 57 kidney service improvement projects around the state.
These projects aim to:
- Improve patient choice in their treatment options and symptom management
- Increase independence and self-management
- Provide care closer to home
- Improve care coordination and support of best practice care
- Facilitate return home / to country for rural and remote people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- Facilitate timely and equitable referral and assessment for kidney transplantation for patients across Queensland
- Assist healthcare providers to provide comprehensive, sensitive and culturally appropriate kidney transplant assessment and triage services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients.
To date, the projects have facilitated the employment of an additional 50 frontline staff, 5 of whom are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander healthcare professionals, with up to another 40 staff expected to commence within the next 12 months.
Key improvements achieved by the funded projects to date include:
- A 326% increase in the number of patients who have been approached regarding advanced care planning under the kidney supportive care projects
- A 9% increase in the number of patients who commenced home or independent dialysis under the supported home haemodialysis projects
- A 196% increase in the number of patients who have had a decision recorded about transplant suitability
- A 19% increase in the number of patients referred for a kidney transplant
- A decrease of 10 days in the time from transplant to discharge or transfer of patients back to their referring centre
Under the Western Cape Chronic Kidney Disease model:
- 201 additional patients received specialist care at Primary Health Care clinics
- $195,233 in Patient Travel Subsidy Scheme accommodation and travel savings
- Stronger integration with primary care and First Nations Communities.
Across all projects, 21% of the measured improvements reported in the first year were for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander patients.
AKC2026 was also awarded first prize at the 2019 Queensland Health Awards for Excellence; Minister’s Award for Excellence. This award prize funding has been directed towards kidney supportive care, with sponsorship of 62 Queensland clinicians and consumers to participate in kidney supportive care education initiatives including:
- three Reverse Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach (R-PEPA) placements;
- eight individual standard PEPA placements; and
- 40 attendees at the Metro North Kidney Supportive Care Symposium.
For more information about the funded projects, please contact us on AKC2026Collaborative@health.qld.gov.au.
