Palliative care clinical nurse consultant, and Telehealth project leader, Alison Dawes,  said the main aim of the project was to support palliative care patients in their local communities.

“Telehealth will allow patients to be seen by specialist teams often in their own home or at their local hospital,” Ms Dawes said. 

“This will make it much easier for General Practices, patients and their carers and families to access expert clinical advice,”

Mudgee and Rylstone Community Health Nurses Sonia Christie and Jennifer Bryant are among the first to use Telehealth to support palliative care patients in WNSWLHD.

Ms Christie and Ms Bryant said they expect to see improvement in patient management at home, including better pain and symptom management and less time in hospital. 

Flexible funding for palliative care from the NSW Ministry of Health has been provided to WNSWLHD  to buy infrastructure to improve access and timeliness of palliative care support.

Chief Executive of Western NSW Local Health District, Scott McLachlan said palliative care patients from rural communities often have to travel to see specialists and this is often not practical for palliative care patients. 

“This can cause great hardship to patients and families and can lead to increased pain and discomfort,” He said. 

“We have a team of senior doctors and nurses looking at innovative ways to apply technology in the delivery of health services.

“Palliative care is one area where we can use Telehealth to make it easier for people to access health care as close to home as possible.”

Mr McLachlan said it’s important that people understand that the provision of health services through technology is not about replacing face-to-face contact between staff and patients, but about increasing the equity and access to services right across the area.

“Telehealth is about making the most of 21st century technology to go beyond what we would have thought was possible twenty, or even ten years ago,” he said. “

“As we use the technology, we are finding that it is really improving health care through improved communication between patients, General Practice, the specialists based in larger communities and our local teams.”