Year-in-Review-2021-22 - Flipbook - Page 44
RPA Virtual Hospital
RPA Virtual Hospital is the first virtual hospital in
Australia operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
RPA Virtual Hospital (rpavirtual) utilises digital
technology to provide a personalised service,
so patients can access expert clinical care from
the comfort of home, while being monitored by
a team of healthcare professionals from the
hospital’s Virtual Care Centre.
rpavirtual celebrated its second year of operation
in February 2022.
Sydney District Nursing supports rpavirtual,
building on a 121-year strong legacy of providing
nursing care in the community since 1900.
• Completed the RPA Virtual Hospital Proof
of concept trial Evaluation Report February
2020 to January 2021 in collaboration with the
University of Sydney.
• Finalised the RPA Virtual Hospital Overview
and Strategic Priorities 2022 and 2023 setting
the strategic direction for rpavirtual in the
next two years.
• Delivered COVID-19 community care to
2951 Aboriginal patients, with cultural
support provided by a dedicated Aboriginal
Health team.
This year rpavirtual continued to be at the
forefront of the NSW pandemic response and
has widely shared learnings regarding the
implementation of a virtual hospital model –
presenting to over 30 external agencies and
conferences.
• Launched a new and innovative Virtual
Rehabilitation Service “vRehab”.
Highlights:
• In 2021-22, Sydney District Nursing registered
3914 patients for care, 27 per cent of
patients were receiving palliative care in
the community, 18 per cent of patients were
receiving Hospital in The Home.
• Continued to support the COVID-19 pandemic
response providing remote monitoring and
clinical assessment for 24,284 COVID-19
positive patients, 73 per cent were isolating at
home and the remainder in the Special Health
Accommodation; 1384 COVID-19 negative
patients in Special Health Accommodation
received clinical care from rpavirtual; virtual
antenatal care was delivered to 1160 pregnant
women in isolation; cultural support was
provided to over 2500 rpavirtual Aboriginal
patients by the Aboriginal Cultural Support
Team; RPA Virtual Hospital also received a
letter of acknowledgement from the Governor
of NSW for the COVID-19 response.
• Achieved Highly Commended in the category
of Clinical Excellence and Patient Safety at
the 2021 Australian Council on Healthcare
Standards Quality Improvement Awards.
“The nurses are always willing to listen.
They are kind and help me with any
concerns. The best part of my care
was the wonderful nurses. Couldn't be
more wonderful.” Patient
• Since launching in February 2020, RPA
Virtual Hospital has delivered a wide range of
virtual care to 59,096 patients including COVID
care, antenatal and paediatric care, a fracture
clinic, virtual rehabilitation, medication and
symptom monitoring.
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Sydney Local Health District
