Mid North Coast general practices and Aboriginal Medical Services (AMSs) will soon participate in a hospital admission and discharge notification pilot.
The pilot has been designed by eHealth NSW’s Integrated Care Program in partnership with the Mid North Coast Local Health District (MNCLHD). It is designed to help shape a future statewide solution.
Notifications, sent as an event summary, will be delivered from MNCLHD hospitals to the patient-nominated GP via secure messaging.
Event summaries will include:
- ED discharge notification
- COVID-19 clinic notifications
- Admission notifications – inpatient, including when patient is transferred from ED to an inpatient ward
- Discharge notification – inpatient
The pilot is due to start in late September 2020 — admission and discharge notifications will be ‘turned on’ from this date for all practices — and will run for four months. Further information about what to expect during this pilot will be shared with Mid North Coast practices soon.
Like many of the digital health initiatives we are seeing across the world, this pilot has been fast-tracked as part of the integrated system response to COVID-19, and the ever-increasing importance for safe transfer of care and effective communication between health service providers.
In 2019, MNCLHD surveyed local general practices about admission and discharge notifications:
- 83% of respondents stated they want to receive electronic admission notifications.
- 75% of respondents stated they want both electronic admission and discharge notifications.
Awareness of admission (means I) can talk with clinical staff if we have important information that they need for care of the patient. Can also contact family and arrange supports etc and be aware that patient may need to (see) us after discharge and arrange early DC review especially if DC summary is not timely eg orthopaedic admissions.
Clinician survey respondent Tweet
Discharge summaries sometimes come through much later with discharge notifications for some patients you will know exactly when to start follow up.
Clinician survey respondent Tweet
The pilot is intended to improve the flow of information to the GP about a patient’s health journey beyond primary care. Clinician experience and feedback will inform the pilot evaluation.
Practices may also choose to use their experience as a quality improvement activity through Healthy North Coast’s Primary Care Impact.
Local primary care QI activities are being showcased on Healthy North Coast’s Primary Care Impact success stories.
Start preparing for the MNC Admission Discharge Notification pilot
1. Update your contact information:
As with most digital health initiatives, the secure delivery of patient information to the right person is dependent on accurate contact and addressing information.
MNCLHD relies on general practices and AMSs telling them when a new staff member joins their service or when their practice details change – this helps keep the LHD ‘address book’ up to date, ensuring outbound hospital notifications can be sent/received.
2. Educate your patients:
Admission and discharge notifications are sent directly to a patient’s nominated GP, so it’s important that your patients know who is their regular, or primary, GP by name. Some practices encourage patients to keep their GP’s business card in their wallet or phone case – does your practice do something different?
If your practice has tips for helping patients remember their GPs name, we’d love to hear from you.
Click here to share your ideas.
Contact our Digital Health Team
Admission and discharge notifications are designed to help keep you informed about your patients so that you can provide the best quality care for your practice.
Have questions?
Our Healthy North Coast Digital Team would love to hear from you:
click here
Contact our Digital Health Team