Meet the doctors whose virtual ED is easing the load on hospitals
In outer Melbourne, a virtual emergency department has offered 250,000 patients treatment and created a model to help keep ageing Baby Boomers out of hospital.
Ninety-year-old Betty clearly had pneumonia when her aged care centre called an ambulance. At her age, with obvious symptoms, she would have usually been taken to an emergency department and admitted to a busy hospital.
Instead, after arriving at the aged care home, Ambulance Victoria paramedics called the emergency telehealth service run by Melbourne’s Northern Health.
Tom BurtonGovernment editorTom Burton has held senior editorial and publishing roles with The Mandarin, The Sydney Morning Herald and as Canberra bureau chief for The Australian Financial Review. He has won three Walkley awards. Connect with Tom on Twitter. Email Tom at tom.burton@afr.com
