Public cardiology outpatient clinic pilot success
Smaller communities in the Murrumbidgee are set to benefit from a new Cardiology outreach service delivered by Living Well, Your Way, a Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD) and Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network (MPHN) partnership with the successful pilot held in West Wyalong on Thursday.
MPHN CEO Melissa Neal said the Living Well, Your Way program is aiming to promote early screening and diagnosis and by increasing access to specialists in the community.
“The program seeks to ensure people with congestive heart failure (CHF) and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the community have the best quality of life possible through access to the resources they need, when they need them, and in the way that they choose to use them,” said Ms Neal.
“Outreach clinics such as the one piloted in West Wyalong will help to increase access to specialists and upskill general practitioners in the community leading to fewer occasions of service to emergency departments.”
Following in his father’s footsteps of servicing the Murrumbidgee, cardiologist Associate Professor Andrew Roy has committed to deliver outreach cardiology across several towns with a visiting sonographer with clinics to be trialled once a month.
“The clinics will support the early screening and diagnosis of patients at risk of heart conditions, and the management of complex patients where optimal medical management has not yet been achieved. Clinics will be run with access to diagnostics including echocardiography,” A/Prof Roy said.
Funded under the Department of Health Improving Access to Primary Care in Rural and Remote Areas Initiative COAG-19 ensures sustainability of the clinics and support from local clinicians. This supports the delivery of primary care services in small rural towns where access to these services may be limited.
Referrals will be accepted for those with any demonstrated barriers to accessing specialist care such as cost and location. Clinical referral criteria include the presence of significant cardiovascular risk factors or a confirmed diagnosis with clinical complexities.
West Wyalong resident, Robyn, was so grateful to be the clinic’s first patient.
“I was on a six month wait list to see a cardiologist, and it was so great to be able to have a face-to-face appointment with a specialist and his team. I have a good outcome and now don’t have the worry on my shoulders,” Robyn said.
For further information on the initiative, please contact info@livingwellyourway.com.au or visit www.livingwellyourway.org.au and https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Value/Pages/collaborative-commissioning.aspx