RFBI launches new service to provide telehealth access to residents

Royal Freemasons’ Benevolent Institution (RFBI) is launching a new service to support its residents to have better access to health professionals and reduced hospital visits.

With accessing health professionals becoming more difficult, particularly in regional areas, RFBI Nurse Practitioner Amanda Woodlands is heading up this initiative to introduce telehealth services at the organisation’s residential aged care villages.

With the help of grant funding from its Primary Health Networks, RFBI has purchased Visionflex telehealth carts, the telehealth solution that transforms telehealth appointments by giving health professionals the ability to use a range of real-time diagnostic tools during the appointment.

So far RFBI has been able to partner with six PHNs to provide grant funding to support a cart being rolled out to 19 of its 22 villages; however, the organisation's goal is for all of its villages to have a cart.

“We have been very pleased to receive grant funding from our PHNs; however, in most locations this hasn't covered the full cost of the cart. We have received approximately $150K in grant funding and RFBI has doubled this with a further $150K investment to ensure all of our villages receive the same cart and diagnostic equipment,” the organisation said in a statement.

With this technology, health professionals are not only able to see and hear a resident, but they are also able to listen to their breathing, monitor their heart rate and blood pressure, assess wounds and skin integrity and much more, RFBI said. “The Visionflex technology also allows family members to be part of the telehealth appointment, even if they cannot be in the village with the resident.”

“While face-to-face consultations remain the preferred method and best practice, with these carts our teams will be able to support our health professionals to deliver a more flexible model of care and maintain continuity of care when they cannot visit the village. As such, our telehealth service will benefit all 1300 of our residents.”

RFBI is organising special Show and Tell events for residents, families and health professionals where participants will learn about the telehealth service and have an opportunity to see the Visionflex cart and diagnostic equipment in action.

“The show and tell sessions are our way of introducing our telehealth services and the technology we will be using to support them to residents, families and health professionals. During the session we will be demonstrating the technology and showing how our clinical staff will use this under the direction of the health professional during the consultation.

“We had our first staff training session on the equipment earlier this month at our village in Goulburn and even our residents were so excited by it they wanted to join in.”

Telehealth training session, Goulbourn.

Top image caption: Telehealth training session at RFBI’s Goulbourn facility. Images: Supplied.