Healthdirect expands virtual care pathways

Healthdirect Australia is working with health departments to enable access to virtual and urgent care pathways that ensure individuals receive the most appropriate type of care for their need and more evenly distribute demand across a pressured health system.

In 2023, the healthdirect helpline received 1.27 million calls — more than two thirds during the ‘after hours’ period, with significant demand in rural, remote and regional areas. New care options that have emerged during and post-COVID provide Australians with more ways to receive the medical care they need, in the right place, at the time they need it. These options include virtual GP call-back, urgent care clinics and virtual EDs — all integrated into the healthdirect helpline.

When a person calls healthdirect they speak with a registered nurse and undergo a series of triage questions that allow the nurse to determine the right type of care for them, which may range from self-care, to seeing a GP, a variety of virtual or urgent care options, or to attend ED.

Virtual GP

healthdirect GPs can provide callers with an e-prescription via SMS which can be filled using a QR code the following day. The GPs also upload prescriptions, medical certificates and a call summary to the caller’s My Health Record so it is available to their regular GP.

Urgent care clinics

The healthdirect helpline can connect consumers to the emerging urgent care services across the country, offering an alternative to attending an emergency department. Urgent care clinics can deal with a range of illnesses and ailments that require urgent attention. A healthdirect nurse may advise a caller whose situation is urgent but not life-threatening to visit an urgent care clinic and, in NSW, the nurse can make an online appointment at the nearest clinic for the caller.

Australians can also search for the nearest open urgent care clinic using the healthdirect Service Finder. More than 50,000 searches for “urgent care services” over the past three months have been supported by the Service Finder’s guided search function which helps users to understand which urgent care clinic is right for them.

Virtual emergency departments

In several states, helpline triage nurses can connect callers to a virtual ED pathway for a telehealth consultation. These are free services for non-life-threatening emergencies where patients can access emergency care 24/7 via a video consultation (provided by the healthdirect Video Call platform). The service is staffed by emergency physicians, GPs, registrars and nurses who can advise patients on the care they need.

Each state service is slightly different, with services that provide care pathways for children and adults. The paediatric clinicians assess, treat and refer care based on each child’s needs and co-design care plan with parents and carers. This way parents and children are supported with emergency advice and monitoring.

Last year, 230,433 adult and child patients had virtual consultations in NSW, Victoria and South Australia via healthdirect Video Call. Not only are these pathways a more convenient option for the patients, they actively help to reduce pressure on busy hospital emergency departments.