Legislative Council, Tuesday 3 May 2022

Ms FORREST question to DEPUTY LEADER of the GOVERNMENT in the LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, Ms PALMER

Mr President, with regard to the Rapid Access to Specialists in the community initiative:

(1) Has the service commenced, and if so, how is the program initiative being integrated with existing health services? How many referrals and/or episodes of care been provided? What feedback, if any, is available regarding the benefits of the service and what challenges have impacted the commencement or operation of the service?

(2) If the service has not commenced, has the service model been finalised? If so, can a description of the model be provided; if not, when is finalisation expected? Have staff been recruited and if so, how many; in what specialities and where are they located? Finally, has the development of supporting materials, for example, patient management plans, patient referral forms, promotional material, policies and procedures been completed and if not, what is the time line for completion?

ANSWER

Thank you very much, Mr President, and I thank the member for her question. The Rapid Access to Specialists in the community service commenced delivery on 1 April 2021. The service covers population centres in northern Tasmania, currently extending west from Launceston through to Deloraine and surrounding areas. There will be further services delivered in the north-west as the model continues to develop.

To ensure continuity with the recent impacts of community transmission of COVID 19 on the Tasmanian Health Service, the service has transitioned to delivery by telehealth for the present time. The service has been integrated with existing health services by providing specialist support predominantly to general practitioners in primary care, such as GP practices, district hospitals and community health centers, hospital aged care liaison team and the community rapid response team, with rapid access to THS specialists, for advice and patient review.

There have been 104 patients referred to the service, with 228 episodes of care provided to date. Patients are benefiting from the additional support provided to their GPs, which is enabling more appropriate plans of care, and better access to advice relating to issues such as comorbidities. Work is underway to develop a process to quantitively measure service effectiveness, patient outcomes and GP perceptions of the service, and to provide an opportunity for feedback about potential improvements ahead of any further expansion.

This mechanism will be implemented once in-person services resume. As the health system responds to the ongoing situation with COVID-19 in Tasmania, uptake of the service by GPs and other community-based health professionals has affected service delivery. Despite the impacts of COVID-19 in 2022 preventing the in-reach service being delivered in person, the medical specialists continue to provide telehealth support to participating GPs. The THS is currently planning for the recommencement of in-reach services.