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Victoria is testing a new virtual care model aimed at delivering remote specialist care and easing strain on emergency departments across the state.
The state government recently awarded The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) and Austin Health the contract to pilot the new Virtual Hospital service, following a competitive tender process.
The hospitals are finalising services to offer, according to a media release, but the six-month pilot will provide heart failure and post-cardiac care to more than 250 patients via virtual wards.
The service will also provide virtual foetal monitoring, with local scans sent to the Royal Women's Hospital in near real-time for virtual consultation.
As part of the pilot, ambulance and health service capacity and demand will be assessed and coordinated through The RMH’s Digital Coordination Centre.
The pilot will be rolled out in phases starting in December and is expected to be completed by June 2026. The succeeding evaluation will consider patient experience and outcomes, usability of virtual technology, and equitable access to care.
WHY IT MATTERS
State officials said the Virtual Hospital project contributes to efforts to free up hospital beds and address ambulance ramping. Based on data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, patients waited up to nearly two hours to see an emergency doctor in 2023-2024. Ambulance Victoria also reported cases where paramedics waited up to 10 hours with patients due to a lack of available beds in emergency departments.
Moreover, the state government also emphasised that the upcoming project will bring the most benefit to regional Victorians, as rural and regional health services will be engaged to help deliver access to tertiary specialist care.
THE LARGER CONTEXT
The Virtual Hospital pilot has been funded A$3 million ($2 million) through the state government's 2025-2026 budget. It builds on the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department, which also received A$437 million ($283 million) in this year's budget to make the service permanent and double its capacity.
The upcoming virtual specialist care access pilot follows the launch of Ambulance Victoria’s Victorian Telestroke Inpatient Service, reportedly the first in Australia to provide regional patients with direct virtual access to neurologists and stroke specialists.
The Victorian government is doubling down on digital health with a new training program launched earlier this year to upskill frontline, clinical, and IT staff. As part of the Skills Solutions Partnerships initiative, Grampians Health piloted the program, involving more than 360 staff and offering modules on emerging health technologies along with specialised courses in AI and data management.
ON THE RECORD
"This pilot is going to make it easier for patients to get the care they need, and expanding the digital coordination centre at RMH is going to get our paramedics back on the road faster," said Victoria Minister for Health Mary-Anne Thomas.
