HEALTH CARE

The GEO Group Australia offers a wide range of health services at its three correctional facilities at Arthur Gorrie in Brisbane, Junee in NSW and Fulham in Victoria.

These correctional facilities have dedicated business units that provide comprehensive medical services to prisoners, including drug rehabilitation, as required under contracts with the respective state governments.

Health services provided include primary medical, dental, and mental health care by registered health care professionals, specialty medical consultants, off-site inpatient hospitalisation and emergency care.

GEO takes great pride in ensuring that all of its facilities maintain the highest possible operating standards and in the continued development of innovative approaches to health services in a corrections environment. The GEO Group Australia complies with nationally recognised standards for health care facilities as is evidenced by corporate accreditation with the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS) since 1999 and ISO since 2000.

Pacific Shores Healthcare

Pacific Shores Healthcare, a business unit of The GEO Group Australia, provides primary health care at nine of Corrections Victoria's public prisons. It also provides and/or arranges secondary and tertiary health for female inmates in the public prisons.

Health care delivery is appropriately tailored to meet the needs of individual prisoners in accordance with community health care standards and contractual obligations. Pacific Shores Healthcare employs approximately 80 staff including general practitioners, dentists, general and psychiatric nurses as well as administrative support staff.

Pacific Shores Healthcare completed an incident free transition of health services at nine public prison sites across Victoria on 1 January 1998. This outcome was achieved with a six-week transition program and involved establishing the health care network, including recruiting over 40 staff.

Pacific Shores Healthcare nurses are responsible for the co-ordination of 24-hour health services that includes the management of all on-site medical centres in prisons. The services provided include:

Nursing: Pacific Shores Healthcare employs general, psychiatric and Division 2 trained nurses. Most have a varied and wide experience to deal with a comprehensive range of health needs. Their responsibilities include: assessment of medical and psychiatric health needs; management of medical and psychiatric emergencies; suicide prevention, infection control; emergency care; health education to prisoners (and correctional staff) in areas such as sexual health, men's health, women's health, HIV, drug and alcohol (including methadone) and medication use; pathology collection and the overall administration of the health care facilities.

General Practitioner Services: Regular medical sessions are provided at each site. After hours medical care and referral to secondary and tertiary services is also organised to ensure a high quality of medical care compared to community standards.

Allied Health Services: Pacific Shores Healthcare provides dental, optical, podiatry and physiotherapy care through local contracted providers.

Mental Health Services: Mental health care, including suicide prevention, is provided by psychiatric nursing staff employed by Pacific Shores Healthcare. Psychiatrists provided by Forensicare, the specialist mental health provider for Corrections Victoria, work in partnership with prison general practitioners and Pacific Shores Healthcare psychiatric nursing staff in caring for prisoners suffering from a mental illness.

Diagnostic Services: Undertaken by contracted pathology and medical imaging providers. Services include, CT scans, ultrasound, x-ray, echocardiogram, EEG, and blood and urine testing and analysis. Results of these investigations are reviewed by the doctors and further referral arranged as necessary.

Pacific Shores Healthcare provides health services to the following prisons:

• Ararat Prison
• Barwon Prison
• Beechworth Prison
• Dame Phyllis Frost Centre
• Dhurringile Prison
• Langi Kal Kal Prison
• Loddon Prison
• Melbourne Assessment Prison
• Tarrengower Prison

Pacific Shores Healthcare contacts