How we can help you (What we do?)

The Sydney and Sydney Eye Hospital Social Work team offer counselling and practical assistance to help patients, family members, friends and carers to deal with any issues or concerns that may arise from an illness or being in hospital. This includes:

• Adjusting to illness and change
• Anxiety about your hospital stay
• Stress and distress
• Planning for how you will cope when you leave hospital
• Help at home after you leave hospital
• Information about community services including psychological support
• Coping with loss and grief and trauma
• Supporting someone with a terminal illness
• Information about services including Centrelink, Housing NSW, IPTAAS, ComPacks and Work Cover

We can also provide you with information about other agencies and services.

Who we care for?

We are available to support inpatients and outpatients who attend Sydney and Sydney Eye Hospital for treatment as well as family members, friends and carers of patients.

Who are we?

Our team consists of three social workers who work across the Emergency Department, Hand Unit, Ophthalmology Unit and General Medicine Ward to provide counselling and practical support to patients, family members and carers.

Our Partners

We work in partnership with your health care team as well as other external agencies and community services to assist in your overall care and wellbeing.

We work alongside our Aboriginal Hospital Liaison Officer (AHLO) to ensure that the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients and families are met.

Physiotherapists work with people who need help to recover from an injury or illness. We make sure that each patient is treated individually.

If you are an inpatient at Sydney and Sydney Eye Hospital you may be seen by a physiotherapist. 

The physiotherapist will:

• see if a person can walk safely
• give advice on how to walk safely
• help patients manage falling
• help patients learn how to walk
• recommend walking aids
• make sure a patient can  carry out their daily tasks
• assess and treat any breathing problems that was caused by an infection
• give advice on how to care for yourself after an operation.
• fit orthopaedic braces and casts

You can contact the Physiotherapist through the Hospital Switchboard on (02) 9382 7111

Physiotherapists work with people who need help to recover from an injury or illness. We make sure that each patient is treated individually.

If you are an inpatient at Sydney and Sydney Eye Hospital you may be seen by a physiotherapist. 

The physiotherapist will:

• see if a person can walk safely
• give advice on how to walk safely
• help patients manage falling
• help patients learn how to walk
• recommend walking aids
• make sure a patient can  carry out their daily tasks
• assess and treat any breathing problems that was caused by an infection
• give advice on how to care for yourself after an operation.
• fit orthopaedic braces and casts

You can contact the Physiotherapist through the Hospital Switchboard on (02) 9382 7111

Inpatients at Sydney and Sydney Eye Hospital can see a Dietitian if they need to.

The Dietitian is at the hospital on a Tuesday and a Friday. The Dietitian is available on other days if necessary.

The Dietitian will talk to you about any issues that may be preventing you from eating. He will make sure that you have a healthy body weight, and help you with an eating plan, if you need it.

Some reasons that you may need to see the Dietitian in hospital are:

• to make sure you receive the proper amount of nutrition
• if you have just been told you have diabetes, or you are starting to take insulin
• help manage kidney or liver disease by eating the right food
• talk about what food you need to eat to help heal your wounds
• to make sure you are getting the proper nutrition before and after your operation
• to help you if you have difficulty with swallowing. The Dietitian and the Speech Therapist will work together on this

The Dietitian does not see patients to help them lose weight. The Dietitian will write a letter to your doctor about this.

The Dietitian does not see outpatients at Sydney and Sydney Eye Hospital.

How do I do see the Dietitian whilst I am in hospital?

Ask your doctor or nurse to call the Dietitian for you.

Our aim is to provide timely and accurate patient demographic, clinical and statistical data to facilitate an optimal level of patient care. 

The Medical Records Department has a number of internal and external customers including hospital staff, patients, solicitors, Ministry of Health, police and clinicians from other organisations. The provision of clinical and non-clinical information is one of the most common services we provide to our customers. This may include provision of statistical data, clinical notes (for medico-legal purposes and continuum of care) and Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.

The department provides a timely record retrieval service for hospital departments and external researchers. It is also responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of clinical records and information, ensuring timely retrieval and accuracy of clinical records, processing medico-legal correspondence in accordance with established protocols and coding of medical records.

Medical records are integrated, meaning that each patient has one record at the hospital, which contains inpatient notes, outpatient department notes and investigation data.

Accessing personal health information
Patients/clients/consumers have a legal right to apply for access to their health information a health service holds about them.  They may also give consent to an authorised representative or a third party to access this information on their behalf.
Types of Requests:

• Copy of health records
• Copy of clinical imaging
• Viewing of health records
• Copy of Discharge Referral
• Date of Attendance Confirmation

All facilities within South Eastern Sydney Local Health District (SESLHD) are governed by the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (HRIP Act). This Act outlines regulations around record control and access.  The Privacy Manual for Health Information (2015) has been developed to guide public facilities in application of the HRIP Act.

SESLHD generally processes applications for personal health information under the HRIP Act rather than the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act). However, the GIPA Act may be used to request or process requests for information in special circumstances.

Sydney & Sydney Eye Hospital has procedures in place for supporting patients/clients/consumers to access their health information.  Requestors should be aware of the following:

•  Applications must be made in writing, preferably on an Application To Access Personal Health Information FormSSEH-HRIPA-Form- April 2023 Final 4-4-24.pdf which can be obtained from each facility
• Appropriate identification of the patient/client/consumer (and applicant, if applicable) must be provided (For example: drivers licence, passport, etc)
• Additional consent or documents may be required (see application form)
• A fee, in accordance with NSW Policy Directive Health Records and Medical/Clinical Reports Charging Policy (PD2006_050) where applicable may be charged.
• All applications will be processed in accordance with the relevant legislation
• Each facility aims to process applications within 28 working days of receipt of an application, on the condition that required information/consent/identification documents and fees have been received.  While we strive to complete your application as soon as practicable, sometimes unavoidable situations may cause delay.  If a request is urgent, please contact the relevant facility to discuss expediting your request.

To apply for access to personal health information/records, please complete and return this form

Email: SESLHD-SSEH-ClinicalInformation@health.nsw.gov.au

Sydney and Sydney Eye Hospital

8 Macquarie Street
SYDNEY NSW 2001
Phone: (02) 9382 7339           
Fax: (02) 9382 7388