More options for urgent care are in the works for Illawarra residents, with both the state and federal governments this week making moves towards proving in person and online alternatives to the emergency department.
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Expressions of interest for Wollongong's Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, which was promised in the lead up to last year's federal election, closed on Monday
Coordinare, the South Eastern NSW Primary Health Network, sought proposals from general practices, community health centres or Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services to operate the centre and improve access to care in a non-hospital setting.
Meantime, NSW Health Minister Ryan Park announced on Sunday that the government would expand an innovative virtual care program for children, which has been trialled in three local health districts.
The VirtualKIDS Urgent Care Service is currently accessible via HealthDirect for families within three local health districts with specialist paediatric hospitals - South Eastern Sydney, Western Sydney and Hunter New England Local Health Districts.
Mr Park said it would be expanded to all of NSW before the end of the year.
"The virtualKIDS program has been running as a pilot since August 2021 and works really well," he said.
"The Urgent Care Service has been part of the program since December 2022, with two out of three kids using the service receiving the care they needed without having to go to an emergency department.
"This has significant benefits not just for families, who have reduced travel, wait times for care and hospital visits, but also for the frontline healthcare workers in our busy emergency departments."
Mr Park said the expansion of the service statewide will also see it provide specialist paediatric advice to clinicians in rural and regional hospitals, and to paramedics in non-emergency situations.
The service uses video conferencing to connect families with a clinical nurse to determine the best care pathway and provider for each child, which could be a trip to an emergency department, a consultation with a virtualKIDS expert paediatrician, or a visit to their local GP or urgent care centre.
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Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
