MLHD working on programs to stem emergency department presentations

Murrumbidgee Local Health District executive director of integrated care and allied health Emma Field said the health district is collaborating on several initiatives to help reduce pressure on both GPs and emergency departments.

Among these were an outreach heart failure diagnostic clinic which has operated in towns to the west and north of Wagga including West Wyalong, Hay and Lake Cargelligo.

Funded jointly by the state-based MLHD and federal MPHN body, the project has helped provide expert cardiac care to those who might otherwise fall between the cracks.

The initiative is one of several being rolled out as part of $11 million funding in a three-year pilot project set to wrap up in October 2025.

But Ms Field said three years is not long enough to see all the "benefits and kickbacks" that will result from such projects.

Another initiative is training up pharmacists to screen customers in an effort to stem emergency department presentations.

The MLHD is also working to improve communication between health providers, through the introduction of a Care Monitor app, that Ms Field described as a "digital approach for patients to manage their illness."

"It's been developed as a collaboration between the primary health network and MLHD," she said.

Ms Field said in the app patients can input measurements, notes on their health which can then be read by their GP or a nurse - and patients must give permission before care providers can access that information.

However, she said emergency department personnel are unlikely to gain access to that information at this stage.

Just over 25 general practices have registered to use the Care Monitor app, Ms Field said, but stressed the app is still in its "very early stages".

Ms Field also addressed concerns over the declining proportion of medical practitioners entering the profession.

"We are seeing less and less GPs in the district," she said.

Ms Field said the MLHD was looking at meeting primary healthcare gaps in communities across the region, but did not aim to go where GPs already work.

"We don't want to go into primary health care where there are existing primary health care services, that's not part of our remit," she said.

Ms Field said the MLHD is also targeting patients who are presenting 10 or more times in 12 months, to try and address the key causes for their repeated hospital visits in another effort to reduce pressure on emergency departments.

"Last month we've managed 20 cases at Deniliquin Hospital... [while] in Wagga we've managed 132 patients," she said.

Ms Field noted however, that these figures were still only a "very small portion" of those flagged on their system.

She said a key reason why they could not address more cases was a lack of funding.

Nevertheless, she said the efforts were proving fruitful, with the MLHD seeing a reduction of people presenting to emergency departments as a result.