News and Events

Humans of HEN: Exploring Daily Life For Tubies                                                                                                                               

Webinar for Feeding Tube Awareness Week 2025

Presented by Surgical House with Lina Breik, Tube Dietitian

Recorded: Thursday 6th February 2025

NDIS & Tube Feeding - What to Include (& How to Make Sure You Get it!                                                                                            

Presented by Surgical House with Lina Breik, Tube Dietitian, Nutria and Avanos

Recorded: Wednesday 19th February 2025

From minor rashes to chronic irritation, itchy skin is a common problem. There are things we can do to help prevent irritation before it becomes a problem.

While the skin can do many wonderful things, it can be prone to skin irritations such as dermatitis. Dermatitis is a term for conditions that cause inflammation and irritation to the skin. We see this in the form of rashes, hives or sores which are often itchy. Allergies, bacteria, viruses, cold weather, chemicals, and other underlying health conditions can also trigger itching of the skin. Here is how to find relief.

Feeding Tube Awareness Week is coming! This is important week to raise awareness about enteral feeding and support individuals who rely on feeding tubes for nutrition. Taking place from 2-8 February 2025, there will be a range of events taking place including a special webinar hosted by Surgical House.

Malnutrition exists in different forms, and each type can uniquely affect bodily function at all ages. The causes of nutrition imbalances can vary and are often a complex makeup of individual, community and policy factors. Symptoms depend on the degree of nutrient deficiency and may not always be immediately apparent.

As the healthcare sector shifts towards community-based health services, it is more crucial to have a strong clinical governance, especially when it comes to wound management. Chronic wounds affect over 450,000 Australians which costs the healthcare and aged care budgets more than $6.6 billion annually.

Ensure Compact is a 125 mL, ready-to-drink, complete, balanced oral nutritional supplement for people with, or at risk of developing, disease-related malnutrition. Its small volume has been specially developed for people who have difficulty drinking larger volumes or who have a poor appetite. In an easy-to-open bottle, each Ensure Compact drink provides 300 kcal (2.4 kcal/mL) and 12.8 g of protein.

In the aged care industry, ensuring the highest standards of hygiene and safety is crucial. While vinyl gloves have been a staple for many years, they may not always provide the best protection and comfort for both caregivers and residents. Here, we explore why switching to nitrile gloves is a better choice for aged care facilities.

When skin tears occur, especially in elderly individuals, it is crucial to choose wound care products that optimise healing and minimise further damage to fragile skin. The ageing process affects the skin, leading to thinning of the epidermis, loss of collagen and elastin, and decreased activity of sweat and sebaceous glands, making older individuals more prone to skin tears .

Skin tears result from various mechanical forces and require careful management to ensure optimal healing and prevent complications. Historically, basic island dressings and skin closure strips were commonly used, but evidence now suggests that this approach may not be optimal.

Dry skin caused by environmental factors or chronic sky conditions can be annoying, uncomfortable or even painful. Moving between the cold outdoors and an overheated and dry home can aggravate the skin, especially for those with eczema...

Disability affects life in many unexpected ways. One of the most difficult effect of Disability to manage is incontinence, which can range from a few small leaks to complete bladder or bowel emptying...

Parenting a fussy eater can cause stress and frustration, even for the most laid back of parents. Mealtime can see the kitchen table turn into a battleground, where you beg and bargain with your child to try their food, take a few bites, or simply eat some greens. It can be an emotionally fraught time for everyone involved.

This article explores strategies and options for providing nutritional support for children who, for medical or other reasons, are deemed ‘fussy eaters’.

There are a range of medical and behavioural reasons why a child may become a fussy eater. For examples, conditions such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may cause rigid or selective eating behaviours.

This is where oral nutritional supports or supplements can be vital for developing healthy eating habits, increasing appetites and helping your child to grow and stay healthy.

This article explores strategies for preventing mechanical MARSI and emphasizes the global commitment to reducing these preventable injuries, highlighted by the establishment of “A World Without Skin Tears Day” by ISTAP on April 18, 2024.

Surgical House is pleased to host a series of educational sessions on complex healthcare topics for care providers within the NDIS, aged-care residential or home care settings.

Understanding how to prevent these injuries is paramount in healthcare settings to ensure patient comfort, reduce the risk of infection, and avoid additional medical complications.

Continence Care and Skin Integrity in Home & Community Settings. Foundations of continence care, wound care, preventing pressure injuries and skin integrity.

Surgical House is pleased to host a series of educational sessions on complex healthcare topics for care providers within the NDIS, aged-care residential or home care settings.

Suited to: carers within the NDIS, aged-care or home care settings. RNs, support workers, home care and workplace teams.

Session Overview: foundations of continence care, wound care, preventing pressure injuries and skin integrity with theory, best practices, real life questions and problem solving, product recommendations and applications.

Incontinence is irritating and distressing on so many levels. Skin often bears the brunt of the irritation, but it’s not an inevitable consequence of incontinence. There are ways to avoid and treat skin irritation due to incontinence. First, let’s take a look at why the skin is complaining.

Unfortunately, incontinence changes the skin and disrupts its environment. When it is regularly exposed to urine and faeces along with frequent washing, the skin’s protective barrier (the acid protection mantle) is weakened.

This can trigger a vicious circle of painful irritation, inflammation and infection called incontinence associated dermatitis (IAD). What starts off as a minor rash can rapidly become something that causes discomfort and distress. When that already irritated skin is exposed to more urine or faeces, you may see redness and the person is likely to experience itching, tingling and/or a painful, burning sensation. As the skin breaks down, they become more vulnerable to bacterial or fungal infections.

March 2024 In 2023 Surgical House was pleased to open our large Community Space for events, education and training to support the NDIS, in-home care and aged-care sectors.

Our large open space has hosted everything from small private training sessions, to sector sundowners, classroom style training days and even a long-table lunch for our staff Christmas party!

To find out more about booking the Community Space for your needs or arranging healthcare training for your team on continence care, wound care, skin integrity, enteral and nutritional feeding or other complex care areas please call and ask for our Events Coordinator on 9381 4199 or email events@surgicalhouse.com.au.

November 2023 Content for this article was supplied by HARTMANN MoliCare®

There is a commonly held belief that urinary incontinence is a natural consequence of growing older. It’s just something you learn to live with. Yet for the majority of people living with incontinence, effective treatment options are readily available. Whatever your age, don’t allow incontinence to prevent you from living life to the full.

Big thanks to HARTMANN for providing this useful post.

October 2023 This educational post is provided by Mölnlycke, a leading global healthcare company specialising in wound care solutions.

When pressure injuries occur, they can become painful and take months to heal. In addition to causing pain, they can also disturb sleep, mood and quality of life. Pressure injuries are largely preventable, so it is important for patients and carers to be aware of how to prevent pressure injuries.

Big thanks to Mölnlycke for providing this useful post.

October 2023 On Friday 6th October we once again joined the City of Rockingham for the annual Seniors & Carers Expo.

Big thanks to our team Renay and Lee-Anne along with our healthcare partners Sarah from PediaSure/ Ensure Australia, Heather from Australasian Medical & Scientific Limited and Emma from Mölnlycke Health Care.

PS We thought the colour ladies from the Red Hat Society were definitely Best in Show. Check them out!

September 2023 On Friday 29th September 2023, we were pleased to welcome the Pink-Haired Lady Karen Lorenzon to our community space to host her first KonnectFest in Perth.

Karen runs Konnect Fest events around Australia to provide a space for NDIS Providers and inclusive businesses to enjoy a day away from the office networking, collaborating and making new connections within the sector.

Surgical House was pleased to sponsor this event through the donation of our community space in Osborne Park. This large, open room can be made available for training and events that benefit people and Providers within the disability and aged-care sectors.

July 2023 Surgical House is teaming up with Abbott Nutrition and Lina Breik, one of Melbourne leading Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitians to talk all aspects enteral feeding.
Tubie Newbies will be an information session for new and more experienced parents and care staff supporting children and young people who are tube fed. Lina brings a person-centred perspective that acknowledges the social and emotional aspects enteral feeding.

June 2023 What a great night for our first Sector Connector event at the new Surgical Hub community space in Osborne Park. Co-hosted by the teams at NDSP Plan Managers, Ability Action Australia and ourselves, we welcomed over 80 guests to a fun early evening of networking, information and of course great refreshments.

This event was a showcase for assistive technology and consumable products for people with complex needs who are accessing the NDIS.

We look forward to hosting more events to support Providers, allied health staff, RNs and SWs so we can work together to improve the experience for all NDIS participants, their families and advocates.

June 2023 Surgical House is teaming up with specialists from Hartmann MoliCare to talk all things continence, including transitioning from supermarket brands, finding the best fit products for tweens, teens and beyond and how to care for your child’s skin. This is an education session suitable for parents and carers of children and young people.

Friday 2nd June 2023
10am for 10.30am presentation (approx.. 45 mins) + question time
Surgical House, 46 King Edward Road, Osborne Park
Tea, coffee and refreshments
Wheelchair accessible

November 2022 Another Have A Go Day done and dusted and what a fun day for the Surgical House Homecare Team.

Making Nutrition Fun was our theme with Hawaiian shirts being the dress code and somehow it all worked. From Nutritional Mocktails to Nutreat Pro 40 Christmas Biscotti and Nestle Protein Balls we had it all to giveaway on the day.

Special thanks to our friends from Nestle, Ego Pharmaceuticals, Fresenius Kabi and Nutreat Australia for making our marque a standout and we will be back in 2023 with bells on.

Once again it was such a great event filled with so much fun. Great job to all involved.

October 2022 On October 23 Surgical House joined forces with our friends from Hannah's House and took part in the 2022 Telethon Family Festival.

What an incredible day it was at the Telethon Family Festival in the heart of the city. Surgical House is forever grateful to our friends from Hannah's House for letting us being part of such a memorable experience. We met so many old friends and made so many on the day. Not even the rain could keep the big crowds away.

Once again it was such a great event filled with so much fun. Great job to all involved.

October 2022 On October 15 & 16 at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre joined by our generous supplying partners from Molicare, Ego Pharmaceuticals, Abbott Nutrition, Cardinal Health, Kimberly Clark and Fresenius to name a few, and we had the time of our life at the Source Kids Disability Expo.

We met so many new and existing customers over the two days, and with the help of our friends, we were able to further educate and provide positive outcomes to all those who ventured into booth number 2. Around the corner in booth 4 were our amazing friends from Hannah’s House who ran a super fun chocolate wheel all weekend, giving away tons of great prizes including many from our kind suppliers.

Once again it was such a great event filled with so much fun, colour and quality providers and we have already booked a bigger booth for 2023.

Apr 2022 The clinical team at Abbott Nutrition were at Surgical House running specialised presentations on The Care and Management of Gastrostomy Tubes & Devices for the NDIS Participant and Home Care Customer. Surgical House customer service team joined a host of other allied health professionals from numerous NDIS & Homecare provider groups for this very in depth multi session training opportunity.

There will be a continuation of this very training in coming months so stay tuned !!

Mar 2022 Held on March 27 @ The Timber Yard in Port Melbourne with over 70 sponsors and providers present. Just like previous expos held in Perth under the Live Your Potential banner the event was unique in that it is the only truly inclusive community event held in Melbourne, with a ton of activities both inside and out appealing to people of all ages. We even had the Hon Bill Shorten opening the event.

Where to next for Live Your Potential is unknown and exciting all at the same time.