Occupational Therapy promotes health and well-being through occupation. The primary goal is to enable people to participate in the activities of their everyday life. This is achieved by using specific activities to enhance their ability to participate or by modifying the physical environment to better support participation, to maximise individual's level of independence and quality of life to enable meaningful life roles, by the provision of a customer focussed, high quality and holistic occupational therapy service.

Occupational Therapists provide services in the areas of:

• Mental Health
• Acute Hospital Care
• Community Health
• Paediatrics
• Aged Care and Rehabilitation
• Post Acute
• Palliative Care
• Persistent Pain
• Cancer Services
• Vascular/Lymphoedema
• Hand and Upper Limb Therapy
• Manual Handling
• Health Promotion.

Physiotherapists are health professionals who assist patients in meeting their full physical capabilities.

Physiotherapy treatment is directed towards maintaining and restoring normal function, minimising dysfunction and preventing disability.  We do this by providing pain relief, enhancing movement patterns, restoring joint range and muscle function, maximising cardio-respiratory function and achieving functional independence.

Speech pathologists are health professionals who work in various areas of the hospital to assist people who have communication or swallowing impairments as a result of certain conditions.

Nutrition and Food Services provides leadership in the management of nutrition and hydration across Gold Coast Health.

The department is committed to ensuring safe, high-quality nutrition care for both adult and paediatric patients. This commitment is delivered through education and training, credentialling and scope of clinical practice, evidence-based care, and the monitoring of clinical variation and health outcomes.

Food Services has evolved into a clinical service, with its primary function being the safe provision of nutrition to inpatients - supporting the prevention and treatment of malnutrition as a first-line intervention. The service delivers 67 therapeutic diets and can manage > 140 food allergens as clinically required. Nutrition services provides comprehensive assessment, diagnosis, and targeted interventions for patients at risk of, or diagnosed with, malnutrition.

Social workers assist patients, families, and carers cope with the emotional, social, and practical challenges of illness, injury, and disability. Social Workers provide psychosocial assessment and treatment, risk assessments, connection to resources, discharge planning and counselling.

They offer support for issues such as domestic and family violence, sexual assault, child protection, aged care transitioning and carer support, pregnancy and parenting, grief and loss, mental health, trauma, chronic illness, financial stress.

Social workers advocate and help navigate for needs within the complex health system, acting as a bridge between medical care and life outside the hospital.

Psychologists offer psychological support across the health service in acute, subacute and community settings across the developmental continuum.

Psychologists provide assessment, diagnosis, and treatment for symptoms related to physical health issues and comorbid psychological or neuropsychological conditions.

The psychology service delivers holistic, person-centred care through the patient’s journey with the health service, working within and alongside interdisciplinary teams. Services are offered individually or in groups by an AHPRA-registered psychologist.

The core business of Gold Coast Health Podiatry is to:

• Reduce hospital admissions and lengths of stay associated with foot and lower limb disease.
• Reduce the number of non-traumatic lower limb amputations.
• Support and promote good foot health practices for the Gold Coast community.
• Provide evidence based multidisciplinary team management of complex foot wounds.