South Australians will get the healthcare they need quicker under a landmark redesign of the current outpatient system, which focuses on further reducing the backlog of those waiting for an appointment.
Minister for Health and Wellbeing Stephen Wade said the Marshall Liberal Government’s $1.5 million investment to support a state-wide redesign of the current outpatient system would enable reform to how outpatient services are delivered and provide South Australians with faster access to the care they need.
“A key focus of the Marshall Liberal Government has been providing better healthcare, closer to home, and this redesign will help us deliver on that commitment to thousands of South Australians waiting for services,” Minister Wade said.
“Our vision is for South Australia to have a modern, consistent and transparent outpatient system for the 21st century that better meets the needs of the community.
“Since the 2018 election the Marshall Liberal Government has reduced the maximum waiting time by almost 40 per cent (37.5%) but we have a lot of work to do to reach levels that support timely care.
“Under new reform measures, the immediate priority is to clear the backlog and reset the system, which will provide us with an opportunity to do things better than before and embed a ‘new normal’ in the way outpatient services are delivered in future.
“GPs play an integral role in our health system and they will be fully involved and play a strategic role in the process. We want to improve communication, accountability, and transparency between outpatient services and GPs, with the aim to work collaboratively to improve services for our patients.
“Not only is improved transparency linked to accountability, it also supports patients and their referrers to make more informed choices about timely access to treatment.”
The redesign of the current outpatient system will involve embracing new technology to support contemporary care delivery and access, improved system-wide governance, and most importantly better data quality for enhanced clinical, operational and strategic decision-making.
A new state-wide Outpatient Redesign Committee, led by South Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, will drive the reform that is set to be undertaken in two key stages.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr Michael Cusack, said as part of the first stage to clear the backlog and reset the system, GPs will clinically review all patients who have been waiting for an outpatient appointment longer than three years.
“Providing contemporary and updated clinical information will enable patients to be appropriately referred and categorised for an outpatient appointment, or be removed from the list if the appointment is no longer required, resulting in optimal use of the primary health system,” Dr Cusack said.
“The clinical review process positions GPs in the centre of clinical management and decision making with patients and it is expected this work will result in a significant further reduction in maximum outpatient wait times.
“Further to this, digital options are currently being explored to improve outpatient data, such as visualisation technology enabling in-depth oversight and monitoring of outpatient capacity that can be implemented at a service, clinical and patient level.
“The development of a new support tool will see patients clinically categorised and accepted based on consistent state-wide referral criteria, assisting referring practitioners, GPs, and patients to make informed decisions about expected waiting times and treatment options in the future.
“Given the imbalance between a high number of both new and review type appointments, under stage two of the reform work there will be a fundamental rethink to how and where outpatient services are delivered, including alternative approaches to review type appointments.”
It is anticipated the outpatient redesign process will be undertaken over the next two years rolling out a series of enhancements as it progresses.
