Western NSW LHD evaluation of vCare’s virtual support program

Start Date

8 April 2024

End Date

18 December 2025

Project Participants

Tags: acute care, community engagement, decision support, Early Detection and Intervention, hospital services, remote monitoring, Rural and Regional Communities, virtual care

Opportunity

Rural and remote hospitals face higher risk of unrecognised patient deterioration due to limited on-site resources.

The Western NSW Local Health District (WNSWLHD) Virtual Support (VS) service utilises remote monitoring as an additional safety net to recognise and manage clinical deterioration, supporting frontline clinicians across 33 rural facilities. It aims to address clinical deterioration through:

Integrating robust clinical escalation and communication pathways;
Improved education of onsite clinical staff;
Bedside videoconferencing; and,
Advanced remote monitoring that utilises alerts and advanced algorithms to provide clinical decision support for dedicated virtual care clinicians.

Project Objective

This project was a collaboration between DHCRC, WNSWLHD, the University of Sydney School of Rural Health and the Menzies Centre for Health Policy and Economics. It aimed to evaluate whether the VS service:

improves identification of clinical deterioration across rural facilities in WNSWLHD
improves management and escalation of deteriorating patients
is acceptable to clinicians and communities
represents appropriate value for money within the health system compared to usual care alone.

Publications

Final Outcomes

The evaluation found the VS service:

improved adherence to vital signs observation policy, helping staff identify when patients may need additional support and enabling timely care when required
increased venous thromboembolism (VTE) assessment for earlier identification of the serious but preventable blood clot condition
improved indicators of deterioration management such as escalation and repeat observations
had conceptual support from clinicians, and was well-accepted by community once they were informed about it.
Overall, this study demonstrated the measurable improvements the VS service is delivering to over 30 rural hospitals and health facilities across western NSW.

Impact and Benefits

This study provides new and locally-relevant evidence in relation to remote monitoring and clinical deterioration warning systems in the provision of clinical decision support for patients in rural/remote settings. This research shows virtual support, when designed around clinicians and patients, can enhance safety and care quality in rural acute care.

The findings demonstrate the value of ongoing investment in scalable virtual care models that address workforce constraints while strengthening quality and safety outcomes for rural communities, supporting future policy, funding and service design decisions.