A team of COVID navigators at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) is helping patients navigate the complexities of having a COVID-19 positive diagnosis and getting them home faster.
In a statement, SA Health’s Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN) said the new Allied Health Professional role, which started in January, helped minimise the time COVID-19-positive and suspected COVID-19 patients spent in the RAH Emergency Department (ED) and COVID wards by facilitating safe and timely discharge.
CALHN said the COVID navigators, based on similar roles that proved pivotal during pandemic surges in Victoria, also helped reduce unnecessary representations by COVID-19-positive patients to the ED by linking patients with ongoing services and support.
“The role has alleviated some of the ED pressure and given time back to doctors and nurses treating COVID patients in the wards,” it said.
The Network said unlike the Victorian model, CALHN was the first model of its kind to support in COVID wards and not just the ED.
“This is more of an innovation and that has been an opportunity to coordinate patients’ care, work out what the barriers to discharge might be and how they can access appropriate follow-ups,” it said.
“Up until a couple weeks ago, if you were a COVID-positive patient and you needed to access something like rehab or disability support, there really weren’t very good links back in with service providers.”
CALHN said the team had seven COVID navigators working 8am to midnight, seven days a week.
“The COVID Navigators have already had almost 500 direct interactions with COVID positive patients, assisting over 100 patients to navigate their COVID-19 diagnosis and its implications for discharge,” it said.
