The patient was supported by Rural Northwest Health Cancer well-being coordinator Kathy Poulton to link to Dr Prashanth Prithviraj, an oncologist in Ballarat and Carmel O’Kane an oncology nurse practitioner in Horsham. This was the first multi-consult telehealth link of the Wimmera Cancer Telehealthcare project using Healthdirect – a secure web-based platform. 

The patient was able to see these two clinicians using an iPad with an internet connection from their own home.

“It was very clear and easy to understand everything. There was no delay and I was so much more comfortable not having to travel,” the patient said.

Kathy Poulton, who assisted the patient during the telehealth consult, noted that this patient was able to participate and talk much more freely during the consult, as they were not in pain from the three hour trip from Warracknabeal to Ballarat. 

“She was a bit nervous before the telehealth link but as soon as we connected and she could see both Dr Prashanth and Carmel on the screen, she relaxed,” Kathy said.

Carmel O’Kane also felt the telehealth consultation was a success. 

“It was actually better than a face to face consultation for this patient, as using telehealth meant the patient wasn’t in even more pain from sitting in a car travelling,” Carmel said.  

“We know that there are patients who will refuse to travel, as they feel so unwell and telehealth allows us to bring specialist care to these patients.” 

Dr Prashanth was also very impressed with the telehealth consult and is looking forward to scheduling more of these in the future with patients across regional and rural areas.

Contributed by the Wimmera Primary Care Partnership.