Canopy Cancer Care opens new clinic

August 25, 2018

Patients in the Far North seeking private cancer treatment can now receive world class care a little closer to home.

Canopy Cancer Care opened a satellite clinic in Whangarei in August due to an increase in demand for its services.

The new clinic is located in Kamo Street in the Eye Specialists building and will initially be open two days a week, with three oncologists working there. There are also two Canopy Cancer Care clinics located in Auckland (Takapuna and Epsom) and one in Tauranga.

Canopy Cancer Care marketing manager Karen Whiting says the new clinic in Whangarei is important because it means patients in the north won’t have to travel for hours to receive treatment.

“The long journey and time away from family and friends while being treated for cancer is really hard. The new clinic will make a huge difference to local patients,” Karen says.

Canopy Cancer Care, which started seven years ago, offers adult cancer patients the option of world class cancer care, delivered locally. It specialises in caring for patients needing chemotherapy, immunotherapy, antibody therapy, hormone therapy and more targeted therapies.

Karen says patients receive care that’s not always available in the public system.

“Patients are at the heart of everything we do. We want to provide our patients with choice and access to care. We enable our patients to access cancer drugs and treatments, including those not available in the public health system. We’re also able to ensure our patients have continuity of care. Our nurses and doctors specialise in specific areas or tumour streams, and patients are assigned a clinical nurse specialist to co-ordinate their care,” she says.

Canopy Cancer Care doctors also work in the public health system. An on-call doctor is available to patients 24/7, providing round-the-clock peace of mind.

Also on offer is a service called Under the Canopy, which provides an umbrella of services to help patients who need additional support with things such as emotional wellbeing, fitness and exercise and physical rehabilitation.

Patients also have access to a scalp cooling cap treatment at the Epsom clinic, which can in some cases reduce hair loss for people undergoing chemotherapy.

Canopy TV

In July, Canopy Cancer Care launched Canopy TV – an online news channel for the cancer community.

Episode 1 is made up of three parts: Living beyond cancer treatment, Intimacy for women during cancer treatment and How to involve your children in your cancer journey.

Karen says feedback from patients has been amazing and plans for Episode 2 are under way.

“There was a gap in the market for high-quality NZ-made information for the cancer community that’s delivered in a digital form. With the help of medical specialists, industry experts and patients we’ve been able to create some really useful and powerful material.”

How to refer to Canopy Cancer Care

Canopy Cancer Care is located in Whangarei, Auckland (Takapuna and Epsom) and Tauranga.

To refer to Canopy Cancer Care electronically:

open the patient record
launch the HealthLink homepage
using the CareSelect search bar – type “Canopy”
click “Compose Referral”.

Sydney e-referral pilot opens door to all NSW public hospitals

August 16, 2018

A group of Sydney GPs are the first in NSW to pilot an e-referral system with Sydney Local Health District.

The pilot initially allows 32 GP clinics to replace old style fax referrals with HealthLink’s SmartForms to refer patients to haematology departments at the Royal Prince Alfred (RPA) and Concord Hospital.

“The e-referral is synchronously delivered into the public health system, meaning no more no lost referrals, no delays due to postage or illegibility or mishandling of the referral in transit. This makes it safer and faster for the patient,” says Jean-Christophe Meunier, eHealth Manager, Hospitals and Health Services at HealthLink.

“This is a very exciting development for not only Sydney Local Health District and its clinicians, but also for Sydney GPs who refer their patients into Sydney’s public hospital system,” says Paul Bennett, Program Manager, HealthPathways, Sydney LHD.

GPs in the pilot group are using a specific e-referral from the HealthLink SmartForms interface that is widely integrated across the popular practice management software (PMS) systems, Best Practice and Medical Director. The integration is totally secure, standardised and professional, offering the pre-population of all relevant patient data from the GP’s PMS, as well as delivering the fastest transfer of care possible.

Practice manager, Penny Mills, of Leichhardt General Practice, has been involved in the pilot from the start, and relishes the prospect of specialists in all hospitals using SmartForms.

She says there are three attributes that make the e-referral platform a winner: ease of use, fast real time processing, and added security, all of which “combines to improve the quality of patient care”. It’s also far less messy than using faxes, she says.

An additional mandatory part of the referral pathway makes it possible for the hospitals to send secure electronic status updates back to GPs to advise that the referral has been either accepted or denied. This dedicated GP to specialist communication channel for each patient referred allows for quicker referral acknowledgement, acceptance and updating.

Ms Mills says: “The very first patient we referred needed palliative care and was rejected by the specialist we referred to. That was a good result because the doctor could immediately look at an alternative pathway for the patient.”

Mr Meunier agrees: “GPs will be relieved that all of this communication can be channelled back into their existing secure messaging-receiving workflows, and then filed into their patient record.”

“SmartForms are easy to implement, and I believe the pilot will pave the way for broader use by GPs here in Sydney, and into other NSW Local Health Districts,” Mr Meunier says.

Mr Bennett says the pilot offers an opportunity to extend the electronic referral pathway to over 200 GP practices and to other Sydney Local Health District outpatient clinics.

“We trust this will be the start of a successful patient transfer process across the district using the professional approach and sheer scale of HealthLink, Australia’s largest Health IT network provider.”

He says the Sydney Local Health District pilot is an example of innovative collaboration including Strata Health’s PRISM Referral Management System that enables a compliant and synchronous communication with HealthLink’s SmartForms and secure messaging system, and Central and Eastern Sydney PHN, which is providing project resources and technical support through its digital health team.

ENDS

For more information please contact:

Jean-Christophe Meunier

eHealth Manager, Hospitals and Health Services at HealthLink

M 0437 681 688
P 02 8014 7614
[email protected]

About Sydney Local Health District
Sydney Local Health District is made up of hospitals, health services and a range of associated support services. A leading health district, it provides services in the hospital setting and in the community. The district is located in the centre and inner west of Sydney and is made up of the Local Government Areas of the City of Sydney (western part), Inner West Council, Canterbury-Bankstown (Canterbury part), Canada Bay, Burwood and Strathfield. With around 12,000 staff, the district is responsible for the health and wellbeing of more than 700,000 people living within its boundaries, rural and remote parts of NSW and Australia and more than one million people who come into the district each day to work, study and visit.

About HealthLink
As the leading Australasian provider for the secure electronic transfer of patient information, HealthLink has been instrumental in eradicating inefficient and unreliable paper-based communication. This has resulted in powerful efficiencies in New Zealand healthcare. In Australia, HealthLink has become the largest provider of clinical messaging services, with more than 10,000 Australian medical organisations connected.

About Strata Health
Strata Health works with healthcare providers through intelligent electronic management of patient transitions into the right care, at the right time. Working with healthcare practitioners, clinicians, IT specialists and administrators, Strata Health pioneered the development of powerful software tools that have revolutionized patient flow, benefiting patients, caregivers and system efficiencies alike.

About Central and Eastern Sydney Primary Health Network
Central and Eastern Sydney PHN’s catchment spans 666.9 km². The region stretches from Strathfield to Sutherland, as far east as Bondi, and also includes Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. It’s the second largest of the 31 primary health networks across Australia by population, with almost 1.5 million individuals residing in the region. PHNs aim to improve coordination of care to ensure people receive the right care in the right place at the right time.

New ACC Burn and Wound Care e-Referral now available

August 16, 2018

Healthvision NZ has been delivering top quality home-based healthcare to New Zealanders for 20 years, including expert ACC burn and wound care.

An award-winning and ACC accredited provider of home-based specialist nursing care, rehabilitation and homecare services, Healthvision also provides free ACC-funded wound care for complex and non-complex injuries, including burns.

Referrals for burn and wound care can now be made via HealthLink’s new ACC Burn and Wound Care e-Referral SmartForm.

Healthvision’s team includes specialised community nurses, who provide expert ACC burn and wound care to patients of any age, including babies, in the comfort of their own home, seven days a week.

Julia Morris, Healthvision’s national manager of nursing and rehabilitation says the expertise of the wound-care nurses leads to better outcomes for the patient.

“The patient has the same nurse from the beginning to the end of their care, ensuring continuity of care, and the patients really like that our nurses make appointment times for visits,” she says.

The community nurses also have access to specialist dressings such as silver dressings, which can speed up the healing process and are free for the patient.

Julia says referring early leads to the best possible healing outcomes for patients.

“Our nurses are dedicated and passionate about wound care and many of them have been with Healthvision for a long time.”

Doppler machine available

Healthvision has its own Doppler machine, allowing timely assessment, diagnosis and intervention for ACC patients.

“If an underlying vascular issue is identified, any of our nurses can perform a Doppler assessment, and then apply the appropriate compression, which can significantly speed up healing timeframes. We can also supply patients with two pairs of fully funded compression stockings,” Julia says.

She says the majority of Middlemore Hospital’s National Burns Unit referrals come to Healthvision, because of its wound care expertise and continuity of care.

“Patients really like the care our nurses provide and we get regular, positive feedback.”

How to refer to Healthvision

Healthvision accept referrals for patients in Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Christchurch.

There are two easy ways to refer electronically via Medtech 32:

open the patient record
select the HealthLink icon
click on the ACC Burn and Wound Care link.

open the patient record
select the HealthLink icon
use the CareSelect search bar
type “Healthvision”
click “Compose Referral”.

E-referrals can also be made from most other EMR systems including myPractice and Medtech Evolution. If you’re not sure how, Healthvision can provide free training.

If you need help, call Healthvision on Free phone 0508 733 377 or email: [email protected]

HealthLink and Medical Business Systems announce strategic partnership

August 15, 2018

Leading health-system integrator HealthLink, and Medical Business Systems (MBS), a leading provider of anaesthetic software, have announced a strategic partnership to create a secure messaging gateway for specialists to transfer critical patient data to anaesthetists. Read the full press release here