Supporting and empowering patients living with a disability

Chantal Fichera is the Disability Specialist within the social work team at Redcliffe Hospital

Around one in five people in Moreton Bay community are living with a disability – which is why Redcliffe Hospital’s Disability Specialist is having a meaningful impact.

Chantal Fichera is the Disability Specialist with the social work team at Redcliffe Hospital, promoting inclusion and removing barriers to care for people living with a disability.

“People with disability often experience barriers to accessing healthcare,” Chantal says.

“Sometimes those barriers are caused by discrimination. Other times it’s because they’re excluded from decisions about their own care or because they’ve not been able to access effective care which contributes to physical and psychosocial comorbidities.

“My role is about promoting inclusion and removing those barriers.”

Chantal says a big part of her job at Redcliffe is about providing consultative advice, education and clinical support to both patients and clinical staff at the hospital.

“The role focuses on identifying inpatients with complex communication, behaviours and/or care needs, ensuring that the hospital supports them from their admission, right the way through to their discharge,” she said.

Chantal says that can include environmental adjustments to address sensory needs, or access to an communication aids like Easy Read English information or interpreters–making sure the care they receive is in line with their individual and specific needs.

While her position within the social work team is only a couple of years old, Chantal says it continues to evolve as the team listens and learns from the feedback provided by patients with a disability, their carers and other community stakeholders.

The Disability Specialist role is available to inpatients at Redcliffe Hospital four days a week. Also provided is an outpatient clinic and telehealth style appointments. Redcliffe Hospital inpatients can access the service on request of the ward social worker, with other patients able to connect with the service through the Social Work Department at the hospital.