Virtual care involves any interaction between a consumer and clinician(s), or between clinicians, that occurs remotely using technology.
Watch this video explaining the benefits of virtual care and the different ways it can be delivered.
The consumer journey
It is now common practice for clinical services to offer a mix of in-person and virtual care modalities to support a consumer’s healthcare journey. This is often called a hybrid care journey.
For example, this may involve a virtual triage, followed by an in-person assessment, which is followed by several episodes of care provided virtually using videoconferencing or telephone. Other mobile technologies may also be used, such as remote patient monitoring, to provide consumer symptom and biomedical information to support healthcare management. The approach can be flexible, based on the needs of the consumer.
Why use virtual care?
Virtual care provides greater flexibility in how healthcare services are provided to consumers, their families and carers. It gives healthcare workers the tools to deliver care that can improve:
Where clinically appropriate, virtual care is a safe, effective and valuable mode of care that complements in-person care that can be used across all healthcare settings. At the point of care, technology can support multiple participants to be in the one consultation, bringing the physical and virtual participants together.
Virtual care enables integrated care across the spectrum of care (including promotion, prevention, early intervention and in the treatment of illness), allowing collaboration between providers to support the person’s health needs.
Learn more about the benefits of virtual care.
Virtual care for a sustainable health system
Virtual care is an integral part of a sustainable health system that:
- delivers outcomes that matter to consumers
- is personalised
- invests in wellness
- is digitally-enabled and innovative in its practice.
The NSW Health Virtual Care Strategy 2021- 26 outlines a pathway for a coordinated and consistent approach to sustainably scale and integrate virtual care as an option across NSW health services.