WA Country Health Service expands lifesaving telehealth service to 100th site
WA Country Health Service (WACHS) has expanded its award-winning Emergency Telehealth Service to its 100th country site.
Following its transition to WACHS management in April, Walpole Health Centre is the most recent site to be onboarded, joining hospitals and health services as far away as Wyndham and Halls Creek.
The Emergency Telehealth Service (ETS) utilises high-definition video-conferencing equipment to provide potentially life-saving care, delivering almost a quarter of a million consults since the service came online in 2012.
WA Country Health Service Chief Executive Jeff Moffet said it was another way the health service provider was harnessing technology to save lives in the furthest corners of country WA.
“Essentially what the service does is provide doctors, nurses and midwives at some of our smallest and most remote sites with around-the-clock access to emergency and mental health specialists.
“The Emergency Telehealth Service now delivers almost 30,000 consults every year, which is an eight-fold increase on the first year of service,” Mr Moffet said.
“In fact, our specialist teams now see as many presentations and referrals as some of WA’s busiest regional hospitals.
“Recently, we had a patient go into cardiac arrest at one of our Great Southern hospitals and while the local team administered advanced life support measures, they were guided throughout by our ETS specialists,” Mr Moffet said.
“I think it speaks to the excellent place-based care our frontline staff are providing but also to the support of a dedicated team who understand what it means to live and work in the country.”