CASE STUDY Nelson Marlborough
A telehealth survey at Nelson Marlborough DHB found an overall satisfaction rating of 4.05 (five being very satisfied) with patients reporting that time and money saved on travel was the best part of the digital consultation. Also, personal interaction with a specialist when it was a video call. Zoom is the DHB’s platform of choice for clinical processes and it is working with primary
This issue, combined with the pressures of a busy workforce
trying to deal with the backlog of appointments caused by lockdown, means people revert back to what they know and are comfortable with. Livingstone says sending patients an appointment letter is simpler than contacting the patient to ask if they would like a telehealth appointment and ensuring they have the technology available to do it. But lockdown has given people a taste of telehealth and a chance to engage in a new way of doing things, so the DHB is working with clinicians service by service on how to enable telehealth as a seamless process at scale.
health organisations to get more consistency in telehealth use for patients.
Lisa Livingstone, registered nurse and clinical lead IT projects at Nelson Marlborough DHB, says this is important as it can get confusing for patients having to work with several different platforms as they move between providers and places. She believes that a unified approach is key to making telehealth work for patients and that is why the South Island DHBs are looking to promote a regional approach. The South Island Alliance has recently appointed a telehealth facilitator for the region. With the national Health Information Platform on the horizon and the NZTLG doing great things in this space, Livingstone is hopeful of telehealth making “great strides” on the back of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, she says NMDHB does not yet have the maturity in its systems, such as integration with its patient management system, to make telehealth easily available.
Registered nurse and clinical lead IT projects, at Nelson Marlborough DHB, Lisa Livingstone
Ultimately, the goal is a mixed model of telehealth and in- person appointments, where patients have choice.
hinz .org.nz
TELEHEALTH OCTOBER 2020 : : 10
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