What is virtual health?
Virtual health is about putting the patient at the centre of their healthcare. It is enabling healthy communities by:
- empowering patients to manage their own health,
- giving patients a say in when and where their healthcare is delivered,
- improving access to timely care for everyone no matter who they are or where they live,
- delivering services closer to home to make it more convenient for patients.
What is the Virtual DHB?
Virtual DHB is one of the key initiatives we are delivering under virtual health.
- It is using technology to allow health professionals and their colleagues the ability to link up with patients over a smart device or home computer wherever they are.
- It creates a patient-centred clinical record that the whole care team can access and is integrated with our Clinical Workstation and GPs' patient management systems.
- It also offers doctor approved health information.
What is HealthTap?
HealthTap is a global mobile health company and we have partnered with them for a two year trial. It is the current provider of the platform that we are using to deliver the Virtual DHB and the name of the app that patients and clinicians download and register with.
Who is eligible to register?
Anyone over the age of 18 who is covered by the Waikato District Health Board services.
How do I sign up?
From 1 June, people can take their ID to the general inquiries desks at the following hospitals: Waikato, Thames, Te Kuiti, Taumarunui, Tokoroa.
When will all GPs and hospital specialists be on the HealthTap app?
We are starting to sign up Waikato Hospital specialists now, and different services will be coming on board progressively over the next 12 months. Our first was Dermatology and Renal and Cardiology will be next. We are talking to GPs about opportunities this service can offer their patients too.
What about people who don’t have good mobile phone reception at home?
The system can work on mobile phones or via a landline connection. You can access the system from a PC with a broadband connection. We are working with our telecommunication supplier to address connectivity concerns where we can.
What devices is this app available on?
The app is only available on Apple and Android devices, not Microsoft. But on a Microsoft device linked to the internet you can access the system online, just not on an app. You can also access the service on a desktop computer.
Are patient’s health records safe? Will they be stored overseas?
We are using a cloud-based service and the system sits in the US. It is held at the highest security level. This service is currently in place for hundreds of thousands of patients in the US and across the world.
Thousands of Kiwis are already using the international version of HealthTap.
We have agreement to use this system from the government's chief information officer.
The patient controls which clinicians are part of their care team, which then allows these clinicians to see the patient records.
While people in NZ can access the answers to health questions that have been asked globally, they will only be able to virtually connect to a NZ registered health professional and not an overseas health professional.
Although the patient records entered into HealthTap will be able to be accessed through the doctor’s Clinical Workstation, we are not placing the health records we currently hold in our Clinical Workstation onto HealthTap.
The app is free, but will a consultation use up the data on a person’s mobile phone?
We are working with providers to make the HealthTap app ‘zero rated’ which means that it doesn’t eat into someone’s phone provider data plan while they have their consultation. But until that happens, yes it will use the data.
What are the benefits to patients of this app?
They can talk to a doctor over a video chat rather than travelling a long distance to hospital for a short visit, so it’s more convenient.
- They can access trusted health information that has been approved by doctors, rather than relying on Doctor Google.
- They will be able to see their health record and manage their own health more effectively.
- They can book an appointment or send a direct message to their specialist via the app.
What are the benefits to doctors of this app?
- Doctors don’t have to travel to remote rural locations or other hospitals, they can consult with patients over a video link so can see more patients in a day.
- A multidisciplinary team of professionals who are caring for the patient will all have access to the shared care plan and can discuss the patients care with each other.
- Health professionals can also discuss difficult cases with their peers in NZ and around the world, which can lessen the feeling of professional isolation.
What are some of the things you can do in this app?
Some of the ways the Virtual DHB can be used are:
- Video consultation
- Instant messaging between healthcare professionals
- Email queries from patients
- Appointment booking by patients
- Patient checklists
- Ability to load photos
- Ability for professionals to ask advice from colleagues and opportunities for professional development
- Integration of health records created in Virtual DHB with Clinical Workstation and GP patient management systems.
- Access to health information and resources
- Reviews of helpful apps and websites
How is this different to Telehealth?
Telehealth is another initiative within virtual health. Using Telehealth you still have to come to a DHB Hospital or clinic but with Virtual DHB you can have the consultation without having to travel.
Why do we need the Virtual DHB?
We are facing huge demands in healthcare. We have a rapidly aging population and many patients with long term conditions like diabetes. We also have an aging workforce and a growing shortage of younger health professionals. It's only with innovative solutions that we can meet that challenge of growing health needs, increasing patient demand for a greater say in their health and a declining workforce.
Virtualisation allows us to deliver our scare resources direct to patients and drives patient accountability for their own health.
Information for health professionals
