NORTHERN Health’s Victorian Virtual Emergency Department, VVED, received plaudits from Premier Daniel Andrews and acting Health Minister Colin Brooks after helping thousands of people avoid trips to the emergency department during the Christmas and New Year period.
Northern Health launched VVED as a pilot program in October 2020 and it has since supported more than 85,000 people, allowing emergency doctors and nurses to virtually assess non-urgent patients from their home or workplace.
Paramedics can also use VVED to assess whether patients require a trip to hospital.
The VVED treats an average of 300 to 350 Victorians every day, but during the holiday period the number skyrocketed, with more than 640 patients accessing the service on Boxing Day alone.
Ambulance Victoria also saw record demand over the festive period – with New Year’s Day being its busiest day on record with more than 2300 emergency incidents.
Mr Andrews said feedback from doctors and nurses showed many patients accessed the VVED because they were unable to access a local doctor due to reduced holiday hours or high out-of-pocket costs.
He called for the Federal Government to urgently reform the primary care system.
“Our primary care system is broken, and national cabinet must make reforming the system its priority for 2023, otherwise great services like the Victorian Virtual ED won’t be able to see the people who need them most,” he said.
“While it reduces pressure on physical [emergency departments], the virtual ED was never meant to be a substitute for getting care from your local GP – it’s critical we make primary care cheaper and more accessible as a first port of call.”
Mr Brooks said despite record demand, the doctors and nurses of the VVED ‘did an incredible job ensuring Victorians got the care they needed over the holiday period’.
Virtual ED failed was a failed me: I had a badly fractured elbow (# ulna # radius and dislocation) but they refused to send me for an x-ray. I was referred to the virtual ED by Ambulance Victoria and a paramedic who misdiagnosed the elbow as not being broken. What’s the point of a virtual ED if not to organise an x-ray? Seems like exactly the kind of thing they ought to have done?
The virtual ED wanted me to come in person. I wasn’t feeling great and there was no way I wanted to go somewhere in person just to organise an x-ray. I’d already wasted most of a day ringing the ambulance, waiting for a paramedic and the virtual ED.
In the end, my GP took one look at me and ordered an x-ray after doing a virtual consult. He was meant to be on holiday… which was why I didn’t ring him earlier. Plus I didn’t think that so many people would misdiagnose the injury.
I eventually fronted up at Sunshine hospital in the emergency department and waited 14 hours to be seen. They then also misdiagnosed me as having a minor injury and sent me home to recuperate… after taking yet more x-rays N.B. The injury showed up much more clearly on a CT and MRI.