Partnering with the SA Virtual Care Service

In 2022 a part­ner­ship was formed between The CEIH, the Urgent Care Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work and the SA Vir­tu­al Care Ser­vice (SAVCS) where The CEIH is respon­si­ble for:

• Con­tribut­ing to strate­gic planning
• Pro­vid­ing clin­i­cal leadership
• Sup­port­ing clin­i­cian engagement
• Assist­ing in estab­lish­ing new pathways. 

The CEIH is pro­vid­ing data-dri­ven insights and analy­sis on sys­tem impact and col­lab­o­rat­ing with the SAVCS Data and Ana­lyt­ics team towards a learn­ing health sys­tem approach and pro­vid­ing insight to new path­ways pro­posed for the clin­i­cal teams.

The CEIH has under­tak­en a range of activ­i­ties includ­ing data analy­sis to iden­ti­fy oppor­tu­ni­ties for impact. 

Stake­hold­er engage­ment was under­tak­en across mul­ti­ple spe­cial­ties with those involved in the patient path­way from SA Ambu­lance ser­vice to an inpa­tient admis­sion to under­stand the enablers and bar­ri­ers to the part­ner­ship aims.

Using data insights and stake­hold­er intel­li­gence, and through col­lab­o­ra­tion with SAVCS, a pilot con­cept has been cre­at­ed which aims to open path­ways of com­mu­ni­ca­tion between med­ical spe­cial­ists and enable direct hos­pi­tal admis­sion path­ways to enhance the val­ue and use of the vir­tu­al care service.

SAVCS is accept­ing new res­i­den­tial aged care facil­i­ty reg­is­tra­tions to receive vir­tu­al care. Res­i­dents that may oth­er­wise go to ED via ambu­lance for assess­ment, can now receive that con­sul­ta­tion in the com­fort of their facil­i­ty. We then coor­di­nate the best care for the indi­vid­ual cir­cum­stances by sup­port­ing them to stay in place, or by facil­i­tat­ing the most appro­pri­ate care options in the com­mu­ni­ty. SAVCS is work­ing well for aged care res­i­dents with 70% of those referred to SAVCS avoid­ing a trip to the ED.

To reg­is­ter your facil­i­ty for access to Vir­tu­al Care, email health.​savirtualcareservice@​sa.​gov.​au or vis­it the SA Health web­site.