Patient Advocacy Project

Aim

The project aims to improve the hospital experience for rural and remote patients by ensuring their unique needs are recognised, supported, and addressed.

Outcomes

• Improved identification: Rural and remote patients were more easily identified by hospital staff, leading to faster support for discharge planning and transport.
• Enhanced communication: Patients and care teams engaged in earlier and more meaningful conversations about post-treatment needs, resulting in smoother care transitions.
• Cost-effective implementation: Each sticker costs less than $0.20 to produce and can be integrated into existing patient admission and discharge workflows with minimal training.
• Scalability and sustainability: The project demonstrated potential for wider rollout across other rural and regional health services with minimal infrastructure requirements.

Background

A patient was sent to Rockhampton Hospital after a fight at the Alpha Rodeo via RFDS the patient was discharge in the middle of the night and when he was discharged, he was beaten up and then had to be taken back to hospital for more treatment.  The consumers group said why can't we bag tag our patients with labels saying if found please return to "home town" and this is where the idea was born.

Discussion

Strengths, Weaknesses, and Opportunities

Strengths:

• Highly cost-effective and easy to implement.
• Immediate visibility for identifying rural and remote patients.
• Improved patient and staff satisfaction regarding discharge planning and post-care support.

Weaknesses:

• Reliance on staff correctly applying the sticker and initiating conversations.
• Limited digital access for some patients, especially older populations less comfortable with QR code technology.

Opportunities:

• Broader rollout across all Queensland Health facilities receiving rural and remote patients.
• Integration of additional resources into the QR platform, such as accommodation booking links, patient travel scheme applications, and interpreter services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients.
• Potential to embed sticker identification into electronic medical records for greater visibility across hospital teams.

Where Else This Could Succeed in Queensland Health

This project would be highly effective across any tertiary or large regional hospitals that receive significant numbers of rural, remote, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients - including Brisbane Metro North and South HHS, Townsville, Cairns, and the Gold Coast. It would also suit areas with frequent patient transfers such as cardiac, oncology, maternity, and paediatric services.

Next Steps

• Broaden the rollout to more rural and metropolitan sites across Queensland.
• Create a statewide QR platform for rural patient support services.
• Formalise sticker use into admission, care planning, and discharge pathways.
• Develop a training package to support statewide implementation.
• Evaluate long-term patient outcomes, including time to discharge, transport support, and patient satisfaction.