NSW Health WSLHD Safety & Quality Account 2020-21

Transforming WSLHD: Digital Health Solutions for Safety and Quality

Digital Health Services COVID-19 Response

inTouch digital solution To support the inTouch COVID-19 care in the community model, DHS partnered with Integrated and Community Health and Microsoft to rapidly design and deliver three digital solutions to support clinical operations: • Community Client List • Scheduler • Data Analytics Dashboard These solutions enabled inTouch to plan and deliver care safely for over 14,000 people in the community between July 2021- June 2022. These solutions will be used in the expansion of the inTouch program, and other integrated community programs. Virtual Care and Telehealth As COVID-19 cases rose through 2021, clinicians and consumers in WSLHD turned to Virtual Care. Virtual care, or telehealth, uses technology to connect patients and their families, with their clinical teams. This can be delivered as a video conference, over the phone or between two clinicians to plan a patients care. Only used when clinically suitable, Virtual Care provides a way to continue to deliver care and reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection. DHS led service definition, equipment procurement and implementation to increase WSLHD Virtual Care Capacity in Diabetes, Allied Health, Hospital in the Home, Outpatient Clinics, Oral Health, Geriatrics and Cancer Services. In some cases, up to 30% of care was delivered virtually during the peak of Delta wave.

Over the last 12 months, there has been a focus has been on supporting rapid changes to service delivery- from virtual care and supporting COVID-19 vaccination, through to improving access to information to drive decision making. Digital Health Solutions (DHS) as been critical in providing the technological solutions to support this work.

This has included:

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) ordering solutions

Staff COVID-19 surveillance programs

Visitor management solutions

Executive data dashboards

Telehealth being used to keep diabetes patients connected during covid. Dr Abu Kabir.

56