Families across NSW are to benefit from an expanded virtual care program designed to help keep children out of emergency departments and provide care closer to home.
Announced by Premier Chris Minns and Minister for Health, Ryan Park, the virtualKIDS Urgent Care Service is to be rolled out across the State by the end of the year.
“This innovative model of care assesses children before they get to hospital to identify the best healthcare pathway for them, because, in many cases, that is not an emergency department,” Mr Minns said.
“This allows families to access care faster and avoid unnecessary trips to hospital, while also helping to reduce pressure on busy emergency departments in cases where children’s care can be safely and more appropriately managed at home with the support of a clinician or by their general practitioner.”
He said the service used video conferencing technology to connect families with a clinical nurse to determine the best care pathway and care provider based on each child’s needs.
Mr Minns said virtualKIDS Urgent Care Service was currently accessible via HealthDirect for families within three local health districts with specialist paediatric hospitals – South Eastern Sydney, Western Sydney and Hunter New England Local Health Districts.
Mr Park said the State-wide rollout would build on the success of the virtualKIDS pilot program, established by Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network (SCHN) to care for children virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The virtualKIDS program has been running as a pilot since August 2021 and works really well,” Mr Park said.
“The Urgent Care Service has been part of the program since December 2022, with two out of three kids using the service receiving the care they needed without having to go to an emergency department,” he said.
“This has significant benefits not just for families, who have reduced travel, wait times for care and hospital visits, but also for the frontline healthcare workers in our busy emergency departments.”
Mr Park said the expansion would also see the service provide specialist paediatric advice to clinicians in rural and regional hospitals, and to paramedics in non-emergency situations.
