Appendix 3St Pats Dental Clinic visit (Fremantle, Western Australia)
Introduction
1.1On Tuesday 15 August 2023, the committee visited the St Pat’s Dental Clinic, operated from St Patrick’s Community Support Services in Fremantle, Western Australia.
1.2The committee would like to thank Chief Executive Officer Michael Piu, Chief Operating Officer Traci Cascioli, Engagement and Inclusion Manager Tania Payne, and all the staff at St Pat’s for facilitating the visit, which was informative and inspiring.
1.3The committee acknowledges that the work being done at St Pat’s is a testament to the generosity and ingenuity of those who are passionate about helping vulnerable Australians.
What is St Pat’s?
1.4St Patrick’s Community Support Services (St Pat’s) is a not-for-profit organisation which provides community housing and specialist support services for people facing homelessness. It is based in Freemantle and provides services to people 16 years and over who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness, or experiencing severe disadvantage.
1.5St Pat’s opens from 6:30am and has reception open until 2pm. St Pat’s has 22 short term housing units on site. There are significant waitlists for this housing. StPat’s is currently working on a project to bring new housing online.
1.6St Pat’s employs around 100 paid staff and has over 100 volunteers. They have a diverse range of people working for the organisation including university students and previous clients, who welcome the opportunity to give back to the organisation.
1.7St Pat’s is open Monday to Friday, providing breakfast and lunch, and meal hampers for those who need it. Open on Christmas day, St Pat’s provides Christmas hampers to the homeless and disadvantaged.
1.8St Pat’s aims to bring many support services together under one roof, to make them as accessible as possible. These services are coordinated ‘to break the cycle of poverty and disadvantage’. They include housing, health services, crisis intervention and emergency relief, social inclusion and specialist support services.
1.9The committee heard that St Pat’s collects mail for people with no fixed address and helps those with literacy issues to read and interpret their letters. It provides showers and toiletries, clean clothing and food, and vouchers for the community shop, where people can buy cheap essential products. StPat’s also conducts outreach, taking services out into the community, and even has a choir!
1.10St Pat’s connects clients with Services Australia staff, and helps them to secure identification, such as a birth certificate or a photo ID, to enable them to better participate in society. The service sees a lot of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients and has strong procedures and structures in place to ensure services are culturally safe. It has an Elders Reference group and Indigenous employees in key leadership roles.
1.11Most of the health-related services are provided by volunteers and coordinated by St Pat’s employees. Some health staff are employed, such as the dental nurse. Services provided by third parties (mostly volunteers) using St Pat’s facilities, include:
general practitioners
chiropractors
nursing staff
dental
physiotherapy
employment services
housing services
hairdressing
literacy services
optometry
counselling
financial counselling
legal advice
advice regarding the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
1.12St Pat’s receives funding from a variety of sources, including benevolent donations, and government grants. Government funding is often provided on a short-term basis, or through specific grants. The committee heard that more secure, long-term funding would enable St Pat’s to expand their services to better meet the need in the community, and to implement continuous improvement.
Cost of living crisis
1.13Staff at St Pat’s told the committee that the current cost of living and housing affordability crisis has seen an increase in demand for their services. With 190people attending the service on Monday 14 August, St Pat’s reported an approximate 30 per cent increase in foot traffic compared with earlier in 2023.
St Pat’s Dental Clinic
1.14The Oral Health Clinic (Dental Clinic) at St Pat’s is in a modern, clean, sterile and well-appointed space, and is fitted with modern equipment. The facilities were constructed with funding from a Lotteries West Grant and donation from the NIB Foundation.
1.15Most of the equipment has been donated or procured at a reduced price, or has been bought with government grants. The clinic now has an OPG imaging machine for taking dental x-rays and receives many of the consumables it uses each month through donations from partners, such as Henry Schine, A-dec and other dental product providers.
1.16The clinic employs a full-time dental health nurse, who has provided continuity, coordination and increased efficiency since coming to the service. Between July2022 and July2023, the clinic:
was staffed by 19 volunteer dentists;
delivered 1776 treatments over 742 appointments, along with walk-ins;
saw 118 new patients;
provided 15 denture clinics and two hygienist clinics;
conducted 247 extractions and 11 surgical extractions, 58 root canals, 88 cleans, 172 examinations and 218denture appointments, among others; and
provided an estimated $211496 worth of services.
1.17The clinic sees patients from 8.30am to 1.30pm every weekday and has a waiting list of around 250 people. The Dental Clinic delivers or coordinates all types of oral healthcare; from check-ups to scaling and cleaning, extractions, fillings, dentures and x-rays. A dental hygienist attends monthly. While around 14percent of services delivered are extractions, approximately 25percent are restorative, and around 12 per cent are related to dentures (new dentures, repairs, etc). (St Pat’s data.)
Future of the Oral Health Clinic
1.18St Pat’s would like to deliver more services but is limited by only having one suite and chair. There may be an opportunity to add another suite to the service when St Pat’s completes construction of its new building.
