Virtual care

Connectivity trial in palliative care

Specialist palliative care services are taking part in a six-month connectivity device trial, starting in December 2021. The services include:

Clinicians will be provided with portable connectivity devices, Netgear Nighthawks, to enable flexible delivery of end-of-life and palliative care in the community. The Netgear Nighthawk is a mobile router commonly used for business travel. It has fast data speeds, high signal strengths and long battery life.

The trial will investigate whether use of the devices will result in:

• increased number of successful connections to myVirtualCare outside of NSW Health facilities
• improved patient and clinician experience of myVirtualCare.

Transition support in Southern NSW

The ACI and Southern NSW Local Health District (SNSWLHD) recently identified an opportunity to provide targeted virtual care transition support to the district.

We worked closely with the SNSWLHD Telehealth Manager, Chin Weerakkody, to curate a training program tailored to specific needs in the region. ACI teams then worked with a variety of SNSWLHD clinical teams to deliver face-to-face myVirtualCare training. More than 160 staff received training across:

ACI staff enjoyed engaging with clinicians and other virtual care users on the ground. This grassroots level engagement also helped the team better understand the various ways virtual care is being used across the health system.

Feedback from attendees said the hands-on approach the training took was beneficial, particularly the opportunity to walk through processes that had been demonstrated in the support videos.

More feedback from both participants and trainers is being compiled to inform future training and support options for health staff.

Discover more about how the ACI has supported the uptake of virtual care.