Following last month’s contract announcements, Healthy North Coast’s Primary Care Access Project has been working closely with service delivery partner Amplar Health (recently rebranded from Medibank Health Solutions) to progress the design of a local 24/7 nurse triage service for our region.
Co-design workshops were held earlier in the year, which included local stakeholders, consumers, national subject matter experts and shortlisted providers. Participants concluded that a North Coast nurse triage service offering phone and online web chat options would help address regional primary care access issues evident in consumer data and feedback.
Younger North Coasters, in particular, were comfortable using digital options as a first-line for health advice and to be supported to access the right level of care for their needs.
North Coast residents will be able to receive advice on commonly asked questions, such as how to get vaccinated or how to take tablets, and sensitive topics such as sexual health, or be directed to the next level of health care for more urgent or complex needs.
Qualified nurses trained to assess patient acuity and who can use specialised knowledge of available local health service options will be able to better leverage local resources and ensure more equitable service access for our region.
A unique offering of the North Coast triage service will be an integrated digital booking system that will allow nurses to secure patient appointments with participating local general practices and pharmacies.
The nurse will determine whether the caller needs to see a GP in the next 2, 6 or 12 hours, the next day or through a routine appointment and link the patient to local providers where available. Other triage outcomes include self-care for less urgent concerns, a pharmacy visit or other primary health care provider as appropriate, or going to the emergency department.
Ongoing evaluation is a core focus for the project teams, with Healthy North Coast, Amplar Health and The George Institute designing the service delivery data model and metrics that will help measure outcomes for young people and the impact on service access in our region.
The digital-first approach to communicate, engage, and care for patients, when and where they need it throughout their care journey, is a successful model being adopted around the world.
We look forward to working with the North Coast primary care sector and our community to roll out this exciting regional initiative and look forward to providing further project updates over the coming months.
Learn more at Primary Care Access.