Summary
Central West Hospital and Health Service (CWHHS) implemented an innovative project with the aim of providing Telehealth GP services to complement existing remote outreach services utilising the unique model of HHS employed doctors providing all GP services in the district. The model of care allows for utilisation of the GP telehealth service by the remote communities for consultations when the GP was not physically present in the community for a face-to-face visit.
The implementation of the project involved community consultation and liaison with all key stakeholders including the CWHHS Pharmacist, General Practitioners, Barcaldine GP practice, Primary Health Centre (PHC) employees and local community Pharmacies. The project worked with these key stake holders in the development of appropriate telehealth consultation processes, and visited each facility to provide onsite education on documentation, billing and appointment processes and install any new equipment required. The opportunity arose to expand the project scope to the Longreach and Blackall Hub remote communities due to a lower number of consultations than anticipated via the Barcaldine Hub.
Implementation sites
Central West HHS - Longreach Hospital, Barcaldine, Alpha, Jericho, Aramac, Muttaburra, Isisford, Blackall, Tambo hospitals and GP medical centres
Partnerships
Telehealth Support Unit, Healthcare Improvement Unit, Clinical Excellence Queensland
Evaluation and Results
Patient satisfaction surveys were provided to each patient that attended a Telehealth GP appointment throughout this project. There have been 63 patient surveys received from the 85 patients seen, which has been recorded on the feedback register. 45 patients (71 per cent) stated that they would recommend this service to others and 6 patients (10 per cent) have said that they would not recommend this service but have further noted that this is only because they would prefer a face-to-face consultation.
Based on patient feedback it appears that most patients were open to having another Telehealth appointment and were satisfied in using this service however, this project certainly could have been utilised more than it was by increased encouragement/awareness from Medical and Nursing staff. Something that could have been done differently is the initial communication about this service by having a group stakeholders meeting to map the service in place of individual meetings, so that everyone is on the same page with the requirements of the project. This would have allowed the opportunity for facilities to discuss workload barriers as a team and overcome concerns together.
