With the help of ERH Nurse Unit manager Kellie Taylor and the HCU team, Colin McGillivray was able to receive life-changing care close to home.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
For people in regional and rural areas, accessing healthcare often means travelling long distances to larger towns or being transferred to major hospitals.
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Virtual care, including telehealth, remote patient monitoring and virtual ward rounds, is emerging as a way to deliver treatment closer to home.
While still in its early stages, it is already proving valuable in regional communities such as Echuca.
Loddon Mallee Virtual Care manager Katrina Neave said virtual care was about ensuring patients received quality care regardless of where they lived.
“The whole purpose of virtual care really is ... getting the right care to the right person at the right time but also in the right place,” she said.
“There’s such an impact on the individual, but also it's actually about addressing any inequity. It shouldn't matter where you live. You should be able to access the same standard of care.
“So much can be done virtually. It’s not for every scenario, but there’s so much that can be done to connect the patient to the care that they need where they are.”
When Gunbower local Colin McGillivray was brought to Echuca Regional Health’s emergency department in March, he was in serious condition due to an infection.
As a rarely ill man who had not been in hospital since 1967, the experience was frightening for him and his family.
He required ongoing support to stabilise his blood pressure using medication typically only available in emergency departments, high dependency units or intensive care units.
With support from Bendigo Health, delivered through the Virtual Trauma and Critical Care Unit system, Mr McGillivray was able to receive ICU-level care at ERH.
Colin McGillivray with ERH Nurse Unit manager Kellie Taylor.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
His daughter-in-law Sue McGillivray said she was grateful he could receive quality care close to home.
“It’s been great having him here getting good care,” she said.
“It made him more relaxed as a patient too; otherwise he would’ve been quite anxious being away from home.
“I live in Gunbower, which is only half an hour, whereas it would’ve been an hour and a half to Bendigo.”
Mr McGillivray said if he had been transferred to Bendigo, “hardly anyone” would have been able to visit due to the fuel crisis at the time and the distance.
With ERH just 30 minutes away, his family were able to visit regularly, provide support and take part in discussions with clinicians at ERH and Bendigo Health.
ERH nurse unit manager Kellie Taylor said without virtual care, Mr McGillivray may not have received the level of care he needed.
“It’s becoming more and more difficult to get a bed in Bendigo because their catchment area is so large,” she said.
“If we didn’t have (Bendigo Health) ICU persevering with us to say, ‘You’re on the right track, keep going,’ he would have been transferred to Bendigo.
“He probably would not have been a candidate for ICU in Bendigo. Then you're choosing whether we provide ICU level care here or do we actually give him ward-based care, and he may not have made it.”
The Virtual Trauma and Critical Care Unit was first introduced at ERH in 2013 and has continued to evolve over time.
Today, the ViTCCU is conducted every day for each patient in the HDU in partnership with Bendigo Health.
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