Northern Health’s virtual emergency department has partnered with Ambulance Victoria, allowing paramedics to use the service from a patient’s home and receive emergency medical advice and care.
Ambulance Victoria acting regional improvement lead Amanda Thornton said the partnership will help connect patients with health services.
“Our aim is to minimise patients’ and paramedics exposure to COVID-19, by spending less time at the hospital, and keeping care at home or closer to home. We are essentially going to bring the emergency department to their home,” she said.
A dedicated pathway has been set up for paramedics to access the service, with the partnership covering the north-eastern hospital catchment area.
“The paramedics are really excited to engage with Northern Hospital Epping and the ED physicians. To be able to use the technology to support our work is a great change that we are bringing to Ambulance Victoria, and will have a greater impact on the wider community, making us more available to more cases,” Ms Thornton said.
Northern Hospital emergency physician Loren Sher said the team was excited to launch the collaboration.
“Amanda and I have been working on this for a while, as we see the potential to really work as a team to provide care for patients in the community. The virtual ED’s aim has always been for patients to have access to specialist healthcare from home. This way, we can provide coordinated help, whilst making sure patients don’t have to sit and wait in busy ED waiting rooms,” Dr Sher said.
Currently, Northern Health’s virtual ED sees close to 90 patients a day.
“We are rapidly onboarding new doctors to meet that need and collaborating with GPs and specialist ED physicians, so that we can continue to provide excellent healthcare,” Dr Sher said.
Virtual ED is open 8 am – 11.30 pm, every day, including weekends. Interpreters are available. Patients with COVID-19 can access the service 24/7.
To connect to the virtual ED, please head to nh.org.au/ed.
