The Redlands includes the bay islands, and that changes how NDIS nursing has to be organised. This guide explains what community nursing is available on the mainland and the islands, and what to check before choosing a provider.
Redland City is two places at once: a mainland strip from Thorneside to Redland Bay with Redland Hospital at Cleveland in the middle, and a set of islands, Russell, Macleay, Coochiemudlo, Lamb, Karragarra and North Stradbroke, reached by ferry or barge. Community nursing works on both, but not in the same way, and any participant choosing a provider needs to know the difference. For the practical details of how the service works, see our community nursing in the Redlands page.
On the mainland and the islands, community nursing covers wound care and pressure injury management, medication administration and management, continence assessment, catheter and stoma care, chronic condition monitoring, post-hospital care and, for participants with complex needs, high intensity supports. A registered nurse assesses you where you live, writes the care plan and trains support workers to deliver the delegated parts between visits. On the islands, that training matters more than anywhere else, because the nurse cannot be there every day.
Redland Hospital at Cleveland is the region's public hospital, part of Metro South Health, with specialist care often in Brisbane. Post-discharge nursing begins there for most Redlands participants, and for island participants the discharge plan has to include how the person gets home, how equipment and consumables get across the water and when the first nursing visit can realistically happen. Tell the ward who your NDIS providers are early in the admission so this can be planned rather than discovered on the day.
Island nursing is scheduled around the ferry and barge timetables. Providers with a nurse living on an island, or nurses who commit to regular island days, can offer consistent visits; providers without them cannot, whatever their website says. Medication supply is another island issue: Webster packs arrive by barge, and a nurse who checks each pack against the chart when it arrives prevents the errors that a missed delivery or a changed script would otherwise cause. Ask any provider how many island participants they currently support and how their island visits are rostered.
Check NDIS Commission registration for community nursing care and, if you need complex care, high intensity daily personal activities, and AHPRA registration for the nurses. Ask about consistency of nurse, support worker training and supervision, communication with your GP, which for many Redlands participants is a practice in Cleveland, Capalaba or Victoria Point, and after-hours cover, including what is possible on the islands. Expect honest limits rather than promises.
If nursing is already in your plan, contact a provider or ask your support coordinator for a referral and expect a home assessment first, on the mainland or the island. If nursing is not funded, your GP or specialist provides the evidence, the provider writes a nursing assessment and a Redlands support coordinator helps you request it.
Yes. Russell, Macleay, Coochiemudlo and North Stradbroke Island participants are part of our Redlands service, with visits planned around the ferry timetable. Visit frequency and after-hours cover on each island are confirmed before you sign.
Packs from the pharmacy arrive by barge and are checked against the medication chart when they arrive. Supply is planned ahead so a missed delivery does not mean a missed dose, and the nurse contacts the pharmacy and GP the same day about any discrepancy.
Yes, where the nursing need is connected to your disability, from your Core budget as a disability-related health support. Provider travel to the islands can also be claimed within the NDIS rules.
MediHealth Connect provides community nursing across South East Queensland.