All prisons, courts, and youth justice centres across NSW now have access to virtual care, providing more timely assessment and treatment for eligible patients in correctional settings.
Justice Health NSW Chief Executive Wendy Hoey PSM said all correctional settings in NSW now have the tools to implement virtual care programs, extending both routine and specialist care, to assess and treat more patients than ever before.
"Patients in correctional settings have unique needs and often worse health outcomes than those in the wider community. Justice Health NSW is committed to transforming lives by returning healthier patients to their communities through innovative models of care like virtual care," Ms Hoey said.
"Advances in multipurpose medical cameras and scopes are now enabling us to provide high-quality virtual care to better support this vulnerable population.
"Early assessment and treatment planning through virtual care can reduce the need for more urgent care further down the track. By improving access to virtual care, we hope to see a reduction in transfers to hospital emergency departments."
Justice Health NSW Clinical Director Primary Care and Virtual Care Program Clinical Sponsor, Dr Natasha Hyde said the initiative is a welcome addition for patients, their families, and the wider community.
"The rollout of this critical infrastructure to all correctional settings in NSW will give patients better access to a range of services, including antenatal and palliative care, mental health and chronic disease management," Dr Hyde said.
"This is an important advancement, given patients in correctional settings have unique needs and often worse health outcomes than those in the wider community."
"The improvements in diagnosis, treatment, and recovery, show people in custody can receive close to community equivalent care.
Justice Health NSW has been working in partnership with Corrective Services NSW, Youth Justice NSW, and Local Health Districts to rollout virtual care across all correctional settings in NSW.
