WACHS Emergency Telehealth Service marks 10-year milestone

WA Country Health Service (WACHS) has marked 10 years since the first patient in country WA accessed Emergency Telehealth Services (ETS).

Using high-definition video-conferencing equipment, ETS has now worked alongside country clinicians to deliver potentially life-saving care to more than 170,000 patients.

ETS has a 24/7 dedicated specialist emergency medical and nursing workforce who videoconference directly by the bed, and support extraordinary frontline doctors and nurses to care for the patient.

Since the first consult linked a patient in York via videoconference to a WACHS doctor on 31 August 2012, ETS has been embraced for its ability to bring a wide range of healthcare specialties to even the most remote areas.

Growth in demand and improvements in technology have seen ETS grow from weekends only, to seven days a week, to finally becoming a 24/7 virtual care hub in 2017.  It was launched as the WACHS Command Centre by the Minister for Health in 2019.

In February 2022, the WACHS Command Centre expanded to provide critical care to patients at the beginning and end of life with the launch of the Maternity and Obstetric Emergency Telehealth Service (MOETs) and Palliative Care Afterhours Telehealth Service (PalCATS) initiatives, available to patients presenting to our country emergency departments.

Command Centre Director Kylie Bosich said that by embracing advances in technology, WACHS was better able to support its extraordinary frontline staff.  

"We are continuously looking to integrate the rapid advancements in technology and support the needs of our on-the-ground staff and broader workforce," Kylie said.

"This, in turn, sees us able to reduce the number of patient transfers and see country patients receive care close to home," she added.