FUDGES Project
Northern Sydney and Central Coast Area Health Service
This project was entered in the 2007 NSW Health Awards, Building a Sustainable Health Workforce category.
Contact: Lorraine Dorrington
Abstract
FUDGES: ‘Follow Up Discharge General Enquiry Support’ is a unique mental health consumer initiated project which provides assistance, understanding and support to mental health patients during their first 4 – 6 weeks post discharge from hospital.
Consumer advocates maintain telephone contact twice weekly with patients who consent to follow up. Calls are non-clinical and provide peer support. An operations manual was developed and The participating advocates have received specialised training .
The Project is introduced to patients by the consumer advocates during their regular weekly visits to the inpatient unit
Outcomes to date have been very positive and the project is continuing into its second year. 100% of the consumers who participated indicated that they would recommend the project to others.
The full entry document can be downloaded in the formats listed below:
FUDGES Project (84KB)
FUDGES Project (46KB)
