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The Wimmera Southern Mallee Health Alliance (WSMHA) was formed in 2010 and is made up of the four local health services in our region: Edenhope District Memorial Hospital, Rural Northwest Health, West Wimmera Health Service and Wimmera Health Care Group (plus Dunmunkle Health Services prior to their merger with West Wimmera Health Service). The WSMHA was formed as part of a broader sub-region Service Plan and Model of Care to improve person-centred care in and between the health services.
The Wimmera PCP joined the WSMHA in 2013 as Project Management and since then has worked with the partners on activities in the Implementation Plan. PCP report regularly back to the WSMHA through their Governance meetings which include each health service’s CEO and Board Chairs.
Telehealth:
Telehealth is defined as the ‘use of telecommunication techniques for the purpose of providing telemedicine, medical education, and health education over a distance’. Telehealth services use information and communications technologies (ICTs) to deliver health services and transmit health information over both long and short distances. It encompasses diagnosis, treatment, preventive (educational) and curative aspects of healthcare services and typically involves care recipient(s), care providers or educators in the provision of these services directed to the care recipient. Video-conferencing is one of the main ways in which telehealth is improving access to healthcare services for patients who live in regional, rural and remote areas. Instead of having to travel to the nearest major city to see a specialist, an increasing number of patients are using video-conferencing.
Watch the video below and read on to see how the WSMHA are using Telehealth:
Wimmera Telehealthcare Project
The Wimmera Telehealthcare project supports patients undergoing or preparing for active cancer treatment within the Wimmera to access structured, regular planned telehealth cancer clinics as close to home as possible.
Wimmera Cancer Telehealth Video
Telehealth is now available for consultations at Wimmera Health Care Group (WHCG) in Horsham and also from the smaller health services outside Horsham – Rural Northwest Health:, West Wimmera Health Service: and Edenhope & District Memorial Hospital. Telehealth is used to link the Cancer Nurse Practitioner at Wimmera Health Care Group in Horsham and Oncologist (either in Horsham or Ballarat) with the Cancer Resource Nurse (CRN)/other Health Professional and the patient at the remote site for clinical support and/or review. Some consultations can even be held at a patients’ home.
The project also has set up telehealth so that Urgent Care & Acute inpatient staff can use telehealth for cancer patients to save patient transfer to Emergency Department or travel.
We have also been working with the Peter Macallum Cancer Centre to develop telehealth-enabled models of care for patients from the Wimmera undergoing chemotherapy treatment in the haematology stream. Work was undertaken to identify local services Peter Mac can utilise to help keep care closer to home, for example imaging, pathology and pharmacies.
We liaised with staff at Peter Mac to determine how telehealth consultations for Wimmera patients could be undertaken.
A Project Toolkit was developed – please click here to access
Telehealth Services Mapping – May 2018
- A detailed list of all Telehealth Services/Projects in the Wimmera Region – to access click here.
Cardiac Rehab Hub and Spoke Model of Care
- Cardiac Rehabilitation education via telehealth. Wimmera Health Care Group (WHCG) provides the Education Component of Cardiac Rehabilitation via videoconference to participants at other Health Services in the Wimmera. Individual services support the physical activity component with their own staff which allows the community to access a high quality program close to home.
Weekly VC Bed meeting/Patient Flow collaborative
- Beginning in March 2015 with Wimmera Health Care Group and Rural Northwest Health, key nursing staff established the ‘bed meetings’ with the intention of improving patient flow within the Wimmera sub region Health System. The basic theory to the meetings is that inpatients at WHCG that needed to stay in hospital but could receive the necessary services required in their local hospitals, could be transferred in a timely manner. The weekly meetings are currently held on Monday afternoons and have evolved with West Wimmera Health Service and Edenhope Hospital involved along with both RNH and WHCG.
TeleOncology
- On 25th November 2015, Wimmera Oncology patients in Horsham were linked via telehealth to Professor George Kannourakis’ rooms at Ballarat Oncology. Twenty one patients were able to have their consultation with Wimmera Health Care Group oncology nurse practitioner Carmel O’Kane using Carmel’s desk computer to speak directly with Professor Kannourakis. Over 12 months 7 Telehealth clinics were conducted with patients selected by complexity of condition and treatment.
Wimmera Urgent Care e-health Project
- Providing patients presenting to small rural health service Urgent Care Centres timely emergency triage and medical assessment without the need for unnecessary travel. The project was developed to reduce the number of lower acuity patients who are transferred to WHCG Emergency Department particularly out of hours; and to provide appropriate and timely emergency assessment, advice and treatment for emergency presentations as close to their homes as possible.
Telehealth Cancer Survivorship Project
- 2016: The project innovates the current Cancer Council Victoria ‘Wellness and Life after Cancer’ program to include practical exercise and wellness group education sessions for survivors and carers using telehealth. The Hub & Spoke Model (based on Cardiac Rehab Telehealth Model) was piloted between Stawell Regional Health and Rural Northwest Health with Wimmera Health Care Group joining the second phase. This program is now offered to community members in Horsham, Warracknabeal and Stawell on an ongoing basis.
Improved partnership and service improvement:
Consumer’s Experiences of Healthcare in the Wimmera
- 2017/18: a series of stories of consumer’s experiences of local Wimmera Health Services has been put together to be used for staff, executive, board & consumer training; promotion of quality improvement work; promotion of local services to the broader community; as a way of engaging community and gaining more consumer feedback. Each consumer has provided their consent for the clips to be used in these ways. The consumer stories can be found by clicking here. They are password protected due to us only having permission to use them in a certain way.
Pain Train (a staff education program)
- A monthly, topic-specific phone, video or face-to-face (you choose) link to the best work new information and practice in pain management and assessment. Each Pain Train session runs for approximately an hour with a 30 minute presentation and 30 minute discussion about the topic. (currently not running)
Nurse Unit Manager Network
- The Nurse Unit Manager (NUM) Network Meeting is a quarterly meeting that provides a forum for NUMS and/or relevant senior staff where innovations in person centred tiered/integrated service delivery system can be developed, reviewed and disseminated. The objectives are to act as a source of advice and provide recommendations regarding the practical implications of projects arising from the WSMHA Sub-Regional Service Plan; to act as a forum to increase understanding of service and access, and what it is like to work at different health service sites; to identify ways to improve patient flow across the sub-region and work together to deliver integrated care; to improve communication and foster strong working relationships between health services staff in the subregion; to explore and improve patient care protocols in step up and step down care across alliance members; and to act as a link between health services staff (ie. what is happening on the ground) and Director of Nursing (DONs) and ultimately the CEOs of the sub-region in relation to the WSMHA work.
Quarterly WSMHA newsletter
- A showcase of the work within the four Health Services and as a result of the Wimmera Southern Mallee Health Alliance. The latest newsletter can be accessed here.
Best Practice and Innovation Forum
- The Best Practice and Innovation forum is an annual forum that provides an opportunity to hear about innovative projects and activities by health services and partners in the Wimmera Southern Mallee and Grampians region. The 2018 Forum was held at the Westside Tabaret in Horsham where 47 people attended and 14 presentations were showcased.
Service Improvement through consumer engagement and health literacy:
Consumer Engagement Working Group
- The Consumer Engagement Working Group was established in 2014 to develop a series of forums for local health and community services, and consumers, to improve how consumers are engaged during their experiences with services. Three forums were held and the final report can be read here. The working group is responsible for the Consumer Experiences in Healthcare in the Wimmera video’s.
ACE Communication (a staff education program)
- ACE Communications was developed as it was felt that holding peer-led, topic-specific professional development sessions would open up potential for more members of the WSMHA workforce and/or consumers to participate in consumer engagement learning opportunities, either in person, via videoconference or teleconference. The sessions are hosted by local workers with particular areas of interest, research or practice. (currently not running)
Teach-Back pilot training (a health literacy training program)
- Teach-back is defined as a simple mechanism by which a patients understanding of a concept or topic may be assessed. Or in other words, you want the patient to restate or “teach back” to you what he or she is supposed to know. It can be used when you teach both concepts and techniques. Teach-back training was delivered to West Wimmera Health Service in June 2017 by Emily Delahunty from Wimmera PCP.
Workforce recruitment:
- Wimmera health agencies are confident a new video promoting the uniqueness of the region will help to attract health workers from all corners of the globe. The video was launched in April 2017 and takes a brief look at the range of people from different backgrounds that have made the move to the region to work and encourages people to consider the Wimmera and Southern-Mallee as a great step for career and lifestyle. The health services will use the clip on their individual websites, job advertising platforms and social media networks in the hope to highlight the positives of living and working in the region.