Estimates - Health - Virtual ED
CHAIR - Thank you. It was a very memorable question, by the way. Minister, I have a question around virtual ED. Last year in the budget papers, $11.2 million was set aside for Care@home to establish a virtual emergency department. This initiative was recommended by the Independent Review of Tasmania's Major Hospital Emergency Departments, as well as the committee looking at ambulance ramping. The Victorian Virtual Emergency Department has been assessed as delivered savings of up to $9 for every dollar spent.
Last year the Premier committed to the initiative and we were told it would be operational by the start of the year. Can you provide an update on this, because I can't see it in the Budget. How much has been spent, if the virtual ED has commenced. If it hasn't, why hasn't it?
Mrs ARCHER - As you've said, Virtual Emergency Department is a Victorian government program which supports health professionals, paramedics, nurses and GPs with access to an emergency medicine specialist. The virtual emergency department will provide 24/7 video-enabled emergency clinical assessment for non life-threatening conditions.
Together, Care@Home and Virtual Emergency Department will create a coordinated virtual care pathway from early remote monitoring and community escalation through to virtual decision support, reducing unnecessary ED presentations and supporting safe care at home. I'm advised that a dedicated project manager has been funded to lead collaboration with Northern Health and the Victorian Department of Health to progress the integration of the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department model into Tasmania's healthcare system, and work is underway to formalise the agreements, governance and operational arrangements for implementation this year.
CHAIR - Minister, I have a follow-up question in relation to Virtual ED. It's a really good model that we've seen work very well in Victoria. The Victorian Virtual Emergency Department has enabled patients to receive high-quality emergency care in their homes, reducing the demand for ambulance transport and relieving pressure on emergency waiting rooms. We know that there's good outcomes for clinicians for training, for reducing travel times and it would be really suitable for Tasmania's dispersed population. I'm curious about how much of the $11.2 million was spent and on what because it's my understanding the Virtual ED clinic was meant to be operational this year, but all we have is a project manager.
Mrs ARCHER - Yes. As I said, the project manager has been part of the implementation plan and we're moving to implementing the Virtual ED by the end of this year. But I'll ask the secretary to make some more -
CHAIR - Do you mean calendar year? Mr WEBSTER - Yes, calendar year. Importantly, the $11.2 million that was in the November budget was not specifically for Virtual ED. It was, in fact, for home and community care, and a number of initiatives and projects within that suite of services, Virtual ED being one of those. And, of course, in this year's state Budget, that moves from project-based funding to permanent funding for that program, or that suite of services. In relation to why it has taken the amount of time that we have, is we need to integrate with the Victorian system to achieve this. So, we will use the same clinicians as Victoria, the same services as Victoria, and we have our EDs plus our - Care at Home program?
Getting the right program, as well as GP NOW, et cetera. Part of what we're doing is the clinical pathways work. So, what is the pathway?
So that every clinician that answers can answer to the Tasmanian pathway so that we're not getting confusion by, you know, getting people referring to services that don't exist here or exist in a different name here, and all those sorts of things. So we've worked with Victoria to do all that work, and that's the project resources that are in place both here in Tasmania and in Victoria, to make sure that we can do that. We're trying to make sure that when we deliver it, it is actually a safe, low-risk product for Tasmania. That's not as easy as it was in expanding it across Victoria, because we've got different service centres.