How virtual in-home care is changing the game for Bendigo patients

It has meant many trips to the GP and hospital for the mum of four, but with help from Bendigo Health's chronic disease team and a new in-home virtual care program, Ms Richardson can manage her disease at home.

Ms Richardson has joined up for the remote patient monitoring program, which allows her to record her vital signs, including blood oxygen, glucose, blood pressure, weight and temperature via an app on her phone.

The data is sent to a registered nurses to monitor, who can provide education and support when the numbers don't show what they should.

Ms Richardson said it had resulted in less trips to the doctor and hospital.

"It's so much easier and it's on hand," she said.

"If I'm feeling unwell, I'll just put on the blood pressure machine or whatever I need to do and it tells me.

"It saves waiting and booking an appointment and getting into the doctor, which is hard sometimes."

She said if she needed to go to the doctor or another hospital she could bring her phone and have all her data available.

Registered nurse Megan Carroll, who regularly visited Ms Richardson, said she was excited by the possibility of the app and the monitoring equipment.

"It means every day I can come into work, open up my computer, I can open up my dashboard and then look at people's clinical observations and make decisions about whether I need to call them or not," she said.

"For the patient in the home, what we're educating them to do is understand what those numbers mean and to be able to intervene early and not let their condition deteriorate to the point where they need either a GP or the hospital."

Ms Carroll said the app was designed to be used as a method of early intervention which was crucial in the management of chronic diseases.

"Our team is about teaching people what your illness is and how to self-manage it, how to be independent, how to have a better quality of life," she said.

"When you deteriorate, if your deterioration is severe then your hospital stay is longer, your recovery time is longer, and you may not fully recover back to your previous level of function.

"Intervening early shortens your illness and then you are back to normal quickly."

The remote patient monitoring initiative started in November last year, as part of the state government funded Better at Home program.

Bendigo Health received $4.1 million last year to run the program.

Member for Bendigo West Maree Edwards said 24,000 Victorians were supported by Better at Home initiatives last year, which helped ease pressure on hospitals.

"It makes a huge difference not just to taking pressure off our hospital system, but to the patients themselves who can be looked after and cared for in the comfort of their own home and don't have to travel long distances.

"This is especially important for people who live in regional and remote areas.

"Access to this new technology is a game changer for the way that healthcare is being delivered across our regional communities, and I anticipate that we will see even more people being able to access the remote patient monitoring scheme."