by Dr Jonathan Brown, GP and Director at 13SICK
13SICK offers Home Visits and Telehealth to Aged Care facilities across Australia. We firmly believe that the best care that a patient can receive is from their regular GP but we are here to help when the GP is unavailable.
This article lets you know about the services that we provide, the hours that we operate and how you can make a booking with us.
If you have any questions or want us to set you with your own booking portal please get in touch with us here.
Home Visits and Telehealth for Aged Care Facilities
13SICK provides visiting Doctors to Aged Care Facilities. When you book with us we will give you guidance on whether a Doctor is available to visit you facility during the After Hours period. We always want a Doctor to visit in person as this is the best care we can provide for your resident.
If a Doctor is unavailable we can provide a Telehealth consultation with your resident, where clinically appropriate.
When we operate – the ‘After-Hours’ period
As a Medical Deputising service we provide care at the following times:
- Monday to Friday 1800 – 0800hrs
- Saturdays from 1200hrs
- Sunday and Public Holidays: all day
Aged Care Telehealth
13SICK can help patients across Australia to access prompt Medical care when the regular GP is unavailable. This is particularly important when looking after patients in regional, rural and remote Australia where it is hard to access medical care After Hours.
We have a team of Doctors available for Telehealth calls to help. We always try to provide this consultation on video because we want to see the patient to help with our clinical assessment
Which conditions can we manage with Aged Care Telehealth?
We cover a wide range of conditions with Telehealth including:
– COVID positive patients needing anti-virals
– Fall reviews
– Urgent drug charting
– Palliative care medications
– Acutely unwell patients (fever, UTI, URTI / LRTI)
What are the criteria for accessing Telehealth consultations?
As an After Hours service we need to be mindful of working within the rules of Medicare. Services Australia says that If you’re working in General Practice, you can only use telehealth items for patients:
- You have an existing relationship with
- Who’ve visited your practice for a face-to-face service in the last 12 months.
Services Australia also says that, “Video conference services are preferred when a patient is unable to attend a face-to-face consultation. Health professionals can also offer audio-only services through telephone where clinically appropriate”
As a Medical Deputising Service we can provide a Telehealth consultation to your resident if their GP has visited in the past 12 months and we deputise for that GPs patients. If the residents condition is urgent you can access our service any time during the After Hours period.
Can an After Hours Service Prescribe Medications for Aged Care Residents?
13SICK is an Approved Medical Deputising Service (AMDS). The AMDS guidelines state that, “Under the
revised Guidelines, AMDS participants will remain eligible to prescribe medicines to unreferred patients if they identify a genuine clinical need to issue a prescription”
Formal Agreements with Practices and Regular Visiting GPs
At 13SICK we want to foster close relationships between ourselves and the regular visiting GPs. This provides continuity of care and better health outcomes for patients.
The RACGP standards for After Hours and Medical Deputising Services recommends that “Formal agreements between services and practices:
- are required for medical deputising services
- help maintain continuity of care for patients.
- strengthen the networks between services and daytime practices in local areas
- ensure that patients can access care 24 hours a day
- help maintain continuity of care for patients.
Although it is not mandatory, it is desirable for after-hours services to have a formal agreement in
place with general practices. When a service is affiliated with a general practice through a formal
agreement, the service can maintain continuity of care for that patient. A medical deputising
service must not offer to provide services for a practice with which they do not have a formal
agreement, although the absence of a formal agreement does not prevent services from providing
care to a patient requiring urgent care in the after-hours period.
What does this mean for an Aged Care Resident that needs Urgent Care?
If you have a resident that requires urgent care in the after-hours period we are able to provide Medical care to your resident even if there is no formal agreement between us and the regular visiting GP.
We would encourage you to try and get the care from the residents regular GP but when this isn’t possible we are here to help. Cases where this may arise may be patients that have tested positive for COVID that may need prompt anti-viral medication, or patients testing positive for UTIs that need treatment.
How do you make a booking?
To book a consultation with one of our Doctors you can book in 3 ways:
1. Visit the 13SICK homepage and click on the ‘Aged Care’ icon (shown below)
2. Book through your 13SICK Nursing Home portal – if you have been set up with your nursing home portal you can login and book a resident in with a couple of clicks. If you don’t have access to your secure portal yet please get in touch with us and we will set this up for you!
3. Call us on 137425 to speak to one of our phone operators
Get in touch with us!
If you have any questions or want us to set you with your own booking portal please get in touch here.