My Emergency Doctor Supports Maryborough District Health Service with On Demand FACEM-Led Care

WHO

Maryborough District Health Service (MDHS) is a regional health service in Victoria that provides a comprehensive range of health care services to the local population of around 15,000 people.

WHERE

The main campus (and Urgent Care Centre) is located in Maryborough with other services delivered from the Avoca and Dunolly campuses.

PROBLEM

The MDHS Urgent Care Centre (UCC) is typically staffed by nurses in the after hours and on-call general practitioners/ Visiting Medical Officer’s (VMO’s). Providing a 24/7 service meant the local GP workforce were devoting very long hours and their commitment was at times leading to exhaustion. To avoid patients having to travel over 60kms to the nearest hospital, the GPs were relied upon by the UCC staff to attend overnight in order to diagnose and treat sometimes even low-acuity conditions.

SOLUTION

MDHS applied for and were accepted into a pilot program led by Western Victoria Primary Health Network to access My Emergency Doctor and after hours emergency telemedicine services. Between 10pm – 6am the local GPs are now reassured that they will only receive a call to attend the UCC for serious cases that absolutely require their attendance.

OUTCOME

Since the pilot has launched MDHS has utilised the service of My Emergency Doctor 245 times during October 2019 – June 2020. Of those 245 patients – 13.5% were admitted for ongoing care and management, 78.4% were discharged home after assessment and management and 8.2% were transferred to a higher level of care at another health service. Additionally, no complaints or negative feedback was received in this 9 month period. Over the course of one year using My Emergency Doctor the team at MDHS has never looked back. They believe the stress-free and fast accessibility to using the telehealth service, has made it the ideal solution in ensuring GP’s maintain a much deserved worklife balance and nurses feel reassured that they will be supported by specialist doctors at any given point in time of their shift.

Contact us today to learn how we can help you! 

w: https://www.myemergencydr.com/ | e: enquire@myemergencydr.com.au | p: 1800 001 059