Roper Gulf Regional Council, in the Northern Territory, and McLean Care's iAgeHealth, based in Inverell in northern NSW, have partnered to provide a 24/7 virtual allied health platform accessible for clients in all Roper Gulf Regional Council aged care facilities.
Initially services will be focused on providing occupational therapy for home modification assessments, physiotherapy assessments, and treatment plans. Dietetic meal planning, assessment, and monitoring will also be provided, as these are the areas of greatest immediate need.
It is expected that, once established, the partnership will access more iAgeHealth services, such as speech pathology and exercise physiologists.
The service starts this month.
Until now, when a client required allied health support, specialists were flown in, not only a costly practice, but it also extends treatment times and delays recovery.
Regional Council David Hurst
“We are passionate about finding the right solutions to overcome the tyranny of distance and access to regular, experienced clinical staff," Acting CEO for Roper Gulf Regional Council, David Hurst, said,
"As soon as the Council recognised iAgeHealth's allied health services innovative approach, and its ability to address long wait periods, streamline appointment scheduling, and provide more affordable options for age care client packages, it was evident that these solutions needed to be integrated into our local communities.
“The potential impact on improving healthcare accessibility and outcomes for our residents is undeniable."
CEO of McLean Care
Sue Thomson, CEO of McLean Care, one of the largest residential aged care and home care providers in the north west region of NSW and Darling Downs region of QLD and parent company of iAgeHealth, said she is delighted to be able to enable services for some of the most vulnerable people and remote geographical regions in the world.
“Our intent with developing iAgeHealth was to meet the needs of our own clients across regional Australia and share that with those areas in greatest need.
“Roper Gulf is a perfect example of an area who continues to work really hard to support local people, but simply cannot offer the same level of support that their counterparts in metro or even regional areas can.
“Access to high quality clinical care, simply isn’t equitable across Australia – and it should be, iAgeHealth means it can be!”
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