Neurologist Dr Victor Patterson is the night-time specialist on-call for his health district in Northern Ireland, but for the last six months, he’s been making diagnoses from the other side of the world, using telehealth facilities at The University of Queensland (UQ), in Brisbane, Australia.
More than 20 patients have been managed using videolink facilities at UQ’s Centre for Online Health. The consultations are part of research project to test whether on-call neurology services can be successfully delivered from a remote location.
“Neurological conditions such as stroke and epilepsy are common causes of emergency admission to hospital. Neurological advice is important for these patients but isn’t always available, especially at night time. We know that this neurological advice can be successfully given by telemedicine using a videolink,“ Dr Patterson said.
“This “outsourcing” is a completely new way of practising acute neurology and we are testing its effectiveness in Australia because of the facilities available at the Centre for Online Health, which is a leader in this field. The major benefit of conducting the research in Australia, is that I can manage night-time consultations in Ireland when it is daytime here,” he said.
The research has important implications for managing health resources and providing easier access to specialists in hospitals around the world.
“It could be possible for on-call neurology at night in the whole of the UK to be covered by a single neurologist in Australia, making better use of resources and the time of junior doctors,” Dr Patterson said.
More than 20 night time patients in the Erne Hospital, Enniskillen and the Tyrone County Hospital, Omagh have been seen by Dr Patterson.
“Although we have encountered some technical problems these have been overcome and the system has worked well. Some patients we have been able to reassure and in others we have been able to make a diagnosis and arrange prompt treatment.”
The Centre for Online Health is at the forefront of telehealth service delivery and research. It has provided more than 2000 patient consultations since 2001 to children and families living in regional and remote areas of Queensland. Through involvement in the Swinfen Charitable Trust, the Centre acts as the international referral centre for the Trust’s global operations, linking doctors in the developing world with local and interstate specialists who provide free advice by e-mail. (Centre fact sheet attached.)
For more information please contact Faculty Communications Officer Marlene McKendry at 0401 996847.
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