VICDOC Summer 2025 - Flipbook - Page 51
These are accessible from anywhere
in Victoria at no cost to the patient or
referring clinicians.
Who can access VVSC?
further when information coming to or
from the primary care provider is not
VVSC is for all community specialists
including general practitioners.
It can also be accessed by bush
nursing and other community
care services.
arriving in time or as intended.
There are several models of care across
Australia that aim to link multidisciplinary
teams virtually.
In Queensland, services
such as the Mater-UQ eConsultant
Any community care providers, such
connect general practitioners with
as general practitioners, paediatricians,
hospital teams through secure online
aged care services, wound care services
direct messaging. This service acts as
and bush nursing services and any
a ‘requests for advice’ portal, providing
community medical specialist can use
replies to incoming messages within 72
the service.
Why is VVSC relevant right now?
With the release of the RACGP’s General
Practice: Health of the Nation report,
now in its ninth year, the critical role
of GPs in keeping patients healthy and
in their communities has never been
clearer. However, the drastic increase
in case complexity and fragmenting
care is impacting the viability of a
fatiguing workforce. One of the key
hours. In Western Australia, initiatives
such as the Virtual Immunology Clinic
provide shared decision making with
scheduled follow-up planned to
keep all stakeholders informed of
patient progress.
Here in Victoria, we are pioneering
the Victorian Virtual Specialist
Consults, a publicly funded model
of care that links the general
practitioner, hospital specialists,
allied health and patient.
takeaways from the report is that well
supported GPs deliver better outcomes,
How does VVSC work?
and serious considerations need to
be taken in how this is accomplished
Current VVSC clinic wait times
effectively. This is also true of hospital
are between one to four weeks.
clinics and clinicians, who are managing
For example, a respiratory medicine co-
expanding waitlists and complex patient
consult is available in three days at the
presentations. This can be complicated
time of writing.
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