NSW Health, Australia Requires Virtual Care Transformation

In order to provide digitally enabled health facilities in Australia, Health Infrastructure, an organisation under NSW Health that provides infrastructure solutions and services, is planning to study international best change management practises.

The National Health and Medical Research Council recently supported this research with a A$1.27 million (about $840,000) grant, in collaboration with the Australian Institute of Health Innovation at Macquarie University and other health providers. Every healthcare facility needs some amount of change management, as per Health Infrastructure CEO Rebecca Wark, to assist hospital workers in adjusting to new infrastructure or new models of treatment.

In order to successfully adopt virtual care systems in their healthcare facilities, Wark is hoping that their study on the best change management techniques will serve as a roadmap for everything from early clinical requirements planning through asset repurposing.

The evaluation of international best practises in change management for virtual care inclusion is a component of the Smarter Hospital initiative by Health Infrastructure. After this stage, the organisation will create and test specialised change management strategies for redevelopment initiatives across New South Wales, Australia. In turn, this will offer a fact-based strategy for implementing change in upcoming virtual care programmes.

In addition, Wark stated that specialised, tried-and-true methodologies to endorse the management of change will make sure that their future health facilities are equipped to integrate the use of cutting-edge technology with in-person treatment and provide high-quality care for societies, particularly those in rural and regional NSW.

The initiative also attempts to create fresh techniques that address certain integration-related difficulties and are replicable across projects.

A five-year NSW Virtual Care Strategy serves as the roadmap for integrating virtual care throughout the state. The strategy, which was unveiled at the beginning of the year, calls for the total integration of virtual care as a secure choice across the state on a sustainable level. Patient contacts, remote care and surveillance, treatment planning and coordination, clinical innovation and collaboration, patient self-management and autonomy, and a digitally skilled workforce are the six strategic topics that are the focus of the report. A task group has also been formed to supervise the application of the approach.

Health systems will be placed to offer better care for patients, realise efficiencies, and provide optimal healthcare experiences by fully integrating virtual care with face-to-face offerings, said Reema Harrison, an associate professor at Macquarie University and the Australian Institute of Health Innovation research lead.