Residents living in aged care facilities across the Illawarra can now get more tailored and timely medical care in their home environment and avoid unnecessary trips to the emergency department, with the launch of the Aged Care Outreach Service.
The Aged Care Outreach Service (ACOS) will help ease pressure on the Illawarra’s busy emergency departments by providing in-home medical care and clinical support to elderly people living in residential aged care facilities.
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said the new service will enable aged care residents to access timely, effective assessment and appropriate clinical care in the comfort of their own environment.
“The outreach service allows a team of specialist clinicians to attend residential aged care facilities and provide direct intervention to residents with acute illness,” Mr Park said.
“The service will run from 8am – 8pm, seven days a week, and means many aged care residents will avoid having to attend a hospital emergency department and can instead receive the care they need at home.
“This model not only provides faster care to older people in aged care facilities, but also helps maintain their health and independence by enabling them to remain in an environment that is more comfortable and familiar.”
Patients will be referred to the Aged Care Outreach Service by their residential aged care facility or NSW Ambulance, where clinically appropriate.
They will then be linked with a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, including registered nurses, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse consultants and a geriatrician who can provide the care they need.
The Aged Care Outreach Service is currently operating in 10 aged care facilities in the Illawarra, after being launched in July.
The service is being rolled out across the Illawarra Shoalhaven in a staged approach and is expected to be operating in all 42 residential aged care facilities across the region by the end of the year.
Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District Chief Executive Margot Mains said the service is already seeing great results and feedback from residents, their families and aged care operators has been extremely positive.
“In the first 35 days, the ACOS team saw 117 aged care residents, with only eight needing transfer to hospital for a higher level of care,” Ms Mains said.
“By increasing the number of aged care residents able to receive medical care in their aged care facility and not requiring transfer to hospital, this service enables emergency department staff to focus on patients who require more complex emergency care.”
There were 42,714 attendances to emergency departments across the Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD in the first quarter of 2023, with a record number of patients in the two most urgent triage categories.
Minister Park said models of care like the Aged Care Outreach Service will help reduce the number of patients unnecessarily presenting to emergency departments.
“This offers our elderly patients a fantastic alternative, in many cases, to the stress of a trip to an emergency department,” Mr Park said.
“It also frees up our emergency departments to deal with critically unwell patients, ensuring everyone in our community can access better, faster medical care when they need it.”
The new service is modelled on South Eastern Sydney Local Health District’s Geriatric Flying Squad, which has been operating successfully for over a decade.
