WA Primary Health Alliance (WAPHA) is proud to announce that August ended on a high note with the HealthPathways Western Australia team celebrating the completion of their 300^th pathway.

Above left to right, back row: Leah Vikingur (HealthPathways Coordinator), Stef Colquhoun (HealthPathways Admin Support), Danelle Robertson (Clinical Liaison Officer); front row: Sue Gedeon (HealthPathways Coordinator), Emily Moore (HealthPathways Coordinator), Magda Matuszczyk (Team Leader – HealthPathways), Emily Foyster (HealthPathways Project Officer). 

Reaching 300 pathways by the August deadline was a significant milestone for HealthPathways WA and a sign of the team’s tenacity and commitment. HealthPathways WA now records over 1000 users, 3000 sessions, and 18,000 page views per month - a clear indication that HealthPathways is becoming more valuable and usable to GPs in Western Australia.

Above: The HealthPathways WA team celebrated their achievement with a morning tea which involved 20 pizzas and a highly competitive HealthPathways quiz.
 

HealthPathways WA contributing to reduced ENT waitlists

The HealthPathways WA team recently collaborated with the metropolitan Local Area Health Services and Central Referral Services to review, agree, and document referral criteria for seven common ENT conditions. Referrals which don’t meet the referral criteria published after 1 July 2017 are no longer accepted onto a waiting list. The referrer is pointed back to HealthPathways for advice on managing the patient in the primary care setting, or completing the referral if information is missing.

These changes are designed to ensure all relevant information is provided to the triaging clinician in order to identify the patients who would benefit from specialist review and therefore proceed to a waiting list.

Early indications suggest that all three metro tertiary hospitals with ENT clinics have experienced a decrease of 50% or more of patients being added to the waiting list. This means that patients who require specialist intervention will be seen within the recommended timeframe for the triage category assigned.

It’s a great example of what can be achieved through collaboration with the health services. The HealthPathways WA team look forward to continuing this work in the hope of reducing inefficiencies and streamlining the patient journey in line with WAPHA’s aim of the right treatment, in the right place, at the right time.

If you’d like to know more about HealthPathways WA’s ENT collaboration, please email Magda Matuszczyk (magdalena.matuszczyk@wapha.org.au)