Social Work
St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney social workers are available to help patients, their families and carers with personal and practical challenges that arise when a patient or family member becomes ill. Our social workers offer counselling and emotional support at no charge and can treat a variety of circumstances including:
- Anxiety about illness and hospitalisation
- Family or relationship issues
- Crisis and trauma
- Bereavement Counselling
- Discharge and transfer of care arrangements
- Respite / rehabilitation
- Financial concerns
- Legal matters
- Domestic and Family violence
- Victims of crime
- Child protection matters
- Mental health
- Drug and alcohol
- Sexual health
- Gambling
- Aged care
- Facilitating family conferences with the treating team
- Referring ongoing counselling and support
Our team can also refer you to additional support services including:
Our services are available to you if you’re an inpatient of St Vincent’s, a registered outpatient or a family member/carer.
Accommodation
St Vincent’s accommodation is available for regional and geographically isolated patients and their escort. Please contact our Accommodation Officer on 02 8382 2114.
Travel Assistance
If you need to travel 100 km or more for your treatment you may be entitled to some reimbursement of your travel and accommodation costs from IPTAAS (Isolated Patients Travel and Accommodation Scheme). The scheme also caters for one family member/carer if an escort is approved. Please ask your social worker if you may be eligible.
Aboriginal Health
The Aboriginal Health Team work closely with social workers to cater for the particular needs of Aboriginal patients, families and carers. Please ask your social worker if you’d like to see an Aboriginal Health Worker.
Contact
There is a social worker allocated to each clinical area within the hospital. If you’d like to see a social worker, please ask the nursing staff or your doctor to contact the Social Work Department.
Contact Social Work directly:
Social Work Department
Level 4, De Lacy Building
St Vincent’s Hospital
390 Victoria Street
Darlinghurst NSW 2010
Phone: 02 8382 2213
Fax: 02 8382 2401
If you are calling out of hours, please contact St Vincent's switch on 02 8382 1111 and ask to speak to the Social Worker on-call.
Scarlett Sevastopoulos is a social worker who deals with death and dying in the hospital every day. In this video she explains why it's important for us all to have conversations about death and dying - not just at the end of life.