Your Stay in Hospital

Home | Patients and Visitors | Your Stay in Hospital

We pride ourselves on providing the best possible care to meet our patients’ physical, emotional and cultural needs. We will do all we can to make your stay with us as pleasant and comfortable as possible.

Phones

Telephones are installed at each bed. Charges apply for telephone use. Please ask our nursing staff for more information.

Televisions

Televisions are available for hire. Please ask our nursing staff for more information.

Newspapers and Magazines

Each day a trolley circulates through the wards, from which you can purchase newspapers and magazines. Newspapers and magazines are also available to purchase at the Glasshouse Cafe.

Mail

Inward mail and parcels are delivered to the wards daily. Stamped outward mail may be handed to the ward staff for posting. Stamps are available to purchase at the Glasshouse Cafe Gift Shop.

Laundry

Arrangements can be made to have your personal laundry attended to during your hospital stay. A small charge may apply. Please ask our nursing staff for more information.

Meals

All meals served at GV Health are freshly cooked by qualified chefs and designed to be nutritionally balanced, based on Australian Dietary Guidelines.

Menus are found on your breakfast tray each morning.

Please fill out your menu choices by 9.15am each day for collection by the menu monitors. Menu monitors can assist with selection and completion of your menu if help is required.

When special diets are prescribed, you will be required to adhere to that diet.

Please consult with nursing staff if you have specially prepared meals for medical, religious or cultural reasons

Meal Times

7.30am — Breakfast
10.00am — Morning Tea
12.15pm — Lunch
2.45pm — Afternoon Tea
5.45pm — Dinner

These times are approximate and may vary slightly depending on your ward.

At GV Health red trays are used to alert staff if you need a little extra assistance with your meal. This might be because you need some help to open your food packets, or to eat your meal, or it just may mean we are keeping a record of how much you are eating to make sure you are getting enough food and drink to help your recovery.

If you, or a family member, have any concerns about your meals, please speak to our nursing staff about this.

Patient Identification

All patients are required to wear a bracelet displaying their identification information. Please leave your identification bracelet on during your stay.

Smoking, Alcohol and Recreational Drugs

To protect the health of our patients and staff, smoking is not permitted within the boundaries of GV Health facilities. This includes any building, outdoor area or vehicle within the grounds.

Alcohol and recreational drugs are not to be brought into the hospital under any circumstances. All laws regarding the use of illegal drugs apply in the hospital.

Privacy of Staff and Patients When Taking Photos or Videos

Family or friends sometimes take photos or videos of patients during their hospital stay. There are some important factors you need to consider before taking any photos or videos in hospital.

You can’t take photos or videos of staff or other patients and visitors with a mobile phone camera without their permission.
You need to consider these things before taking any photos or videos or making audio recordings:
If a patient is unable to consent to having their photo taken, we recommend you obtain permission from the patient’s Medical Treatment Decision Maker (sometimes known as their “next of kin”), who will consider the patient’s rights and wishes. Staff can help you to identify the patient’s Medical Treatment Decision Maker.
Staff are unable to provide consent on behalf of patients – only the Medical Treatment Decision Maker is able to do this.
You should obtain the patient’s consent as soon as they regain capacity to consent. If consent is refused, the images or video should be destroyed.
Any photography or videography should not interfere with the patient’s clinical care. If photography or videography disrupts the delivery of care, or if a staff member believes it is not in the best interest of the patient – even if the patient has given permission – the staff member may request that it stops.
If you have the appropriate consent to take a photo or video, take care that hospital staff and other patients aren’t accidentally captured. Photographing or videoing staff or other patients, or the recording of conversations, is not permitted without consent.
If you want to include staff in your images, ensure you have their consent before recording or photographing.
Documenting medical records is not permitted. Talk to the care team or visit Freedom on Information (FOI) for more information about how you can obtain copies of your medical record.
Recording medical consultations is not permitted without the consent of the treating team.

Privacy and Sharing Images Online and with Media

Sharing photos or videos of a patient who has not consented (or cannot consent) may have privacy implications.

Be careful who you share the photos and videos with. Posting images to social media sites like Facebook and Instagram can provide timely updates for family and friends, but the images can be easily shared with others and seen by many people, including the media.

Check the privacy settings on your social media accounts to control who can see your images before sharing photos and videos of people in hospital.