Mr Matt Didcoe1, Ms Caris Sides2
1St John WA, Belmont, Australia
2WA Country Health Service, Perth, Australia
Situation: St John Western Australia (SJWA) Ambulance services communities across 2.5 million sqkms and last year responded to 50,000 country cases, an increase of 9% from 2022. The SJWA State Operations Centre manages Triple Zero (000) calls and where appropriate, rural calls are diverted to Royal Flying Doctor Service Western Operations for an aeromedical response.
Task: Country interhospital patient transfer (IHPT) requests are now referred to the WA Country Health Service’s Acute Patient Transfer Coordination stream. APTC is a physician-led service providing a centralised approach to road and aeromedical retrieval requests from rural hospitals. SJWA and RFDS operate collaboratively within the APTC to enhance patient safety and timely transfer through improved resource utilisation.
Action: To facilitate equity of access to health care for regional patients who require transfer to a higher level of definitive care. The APTC Doctor triages IHPTs and prioritises transport based on patient needs, clinical escort requirement and asset availability. The SJWA and RFDS liaison officers are integral to the success of this process. This ensures more timely direct care, especially in life-threatening emergencies (Priority 1 & 2 calls).
Result: APTC commenced in February 2022, and transitioned to 24/7 cover a year later. Over this time, there has been an almost 20% decline in urgent ambulance IHPT requests. Through the collaboration between services, APTC has enabled a consistent approach to IHPT requests with ambulance resources being used more efficiently. Now operating 24/7, APTC’s flow on effect is predicted to increase emergency response capacity to the community.
Biography:
Matt Didcoe, MACPara, is a Registered Paramedic at St John WA with interests in system improvement, patient safety and technological advancements in pre-hospital care. Most recently Matt held the role of Transport Collaboration Liaison Officer at WA Country Health Service Command Centre’s Acute Patient Transport Coordination (APTC) stream.