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The Tasmanian Government’s highly successful virtual care program has reached an impressive new milestone this week.
Care@home – which provides virtual care and support to people with respiratory illnesses tailored to their individual needs – has cared for its 50,000th patient since launching in December 2021. This includes more than 20,000 people over the age of 60 and close to 4,000 aged 5 or under.
This is a significant number of Tasmanians that have been able to receive care and recover in the comfort of their own home. Importnatly, a large proportion of Care@home’s patients are at higher risk of serious illness – either due to age or other risk factors – so it is particularly reassuring to have this team of professionals on hand to support them through their illness.
In addition to delivering better outcomes for our patients, it is also helping to alleviate pressure on our health system, including by reducing potentially preventable hospital attendances and admissions.
The service was first established to support people with COVID-19 and then later expanded to include management of other respiratory illnesses.
All Tasmanians with a respiratory illness – including COVID-19, influenza or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) – needing care or support are encouraged to utilise the service.
The program is staffed 24/7 by a multidisciplinary team who provide safe and supportive virtual care at home for people needing assistance recovering from their illness, as well as helping to facilitate access to antivirals for those who are eligible.
The team can monitor patients via SMS, conduct phone or video calls and for higher risk cases, can provide a virtual monitoring kit for people to check their heart rate, oxygen levels and temperature, monitored through a provided smartphone.
Importantly, referral from another healthcare provider is not required to access Care@home. Just call 1800 973 363 or enrol online on the Department of Health’s website.
For more information, visit: https://www.health.tas.gov.au/hospitals/carehome