Support for Aged Care Facilities | Service Support | FAQ's

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Aged Care Support

Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs) are supported when partnered with My Emergency Doctor. Our comprehensive and inclusive online medical solution comes equipped with training and user guides that will get RACFs up and running quickly.

Offering a streamlined patient management process via our online telehealth service, healthcare support staff and GPs can access on-demand support from qualified senior emergency specialist doctors (FACEMs). This ultimately minimises unplanned after-hours visits, provides timely access to a second opinion and expert medical support and can reduce patient anxiety around treatment and potential transfers.

When emergency care is required, connect to our doctors at myemergencydr.com and click on ‘CALL DOCTOR’ – our web solution is intuitively designed for ease of use, or alternatively, call our hotline:1800 123 633. For more information on how it works please see our Aged Care Facilities information page.

Training

When you embed the My Emergency Doctor service with your Aged Care Facility we provide a customised training and onboarding plan for your organisation to ensure our service is understood and supported.

Training is pre-arranged at the start of a service contract and tailored to suit your organisation's individual requirements. Additional training can also be arranged on request. If you’re from an RACF that is already using My Emergency Doctor please contact your practice manager or head office to enquire about how to use the service or access additional training.

Frequently Asked Questions

Absolutely not. Our service is not a replacement for the emergency 000 service. If your patient is suffering from a time-critical emergency such as chest pain, uncontrolled bleeding or difficulty breathing, call 000 without delay.
Our service seeks to work in a complementary manner to GP services in primary care. We recognise that a GP is a patient's primary healthcare provider and the importance of that relationship in maintaining health and wellbeing. My Emergency Doctor complements the existing primary healthcare system by being there immediately at times when a GP can’t be, as our service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our consultations with patients are focused on an immediate and dire need and as such, our emergency physicians seek to make rapid decisions and arrange critical care for that specific point in time. Additionally we are able to provide post-consultation summaries which the patient or their family can provide to their usual GP to support any ongoing care the patient requires.
Lines are staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year. We currently have a strong roster of FACEMs working with us on a rotating basis. Calls can come in, and will be answered immediately, at any time of the day or night.
The key steps are:
- Either ringing our hotline 1800 123 633, or connect to our doctors through our website
- If you choose to speak to a doctor through our easy-to-use web solution, click on 'CALL DOCTOR' to connect. Enter your details and your Site Code. Your Site Code would have been provided to your facility/hospital during the onboarding and training process. If you need to know your Site Code, please contact your Nurse Unit Manager or alternatively, contact our Client Support team.
- You will be placed into a waiting room until a Patient Support Officer will greet you (within seconds) and connect you via built-in video to the emergency specialist doctor.
- The doctor will assess the patient and make a diagnosis, then arrange what is needed, e.g. prescription for medication, referral for an pathology, x-ray or specialist.
- The doctor will make a patient consultation summary together with any prescriptions or referrals that might have been given during the consultation. These documents will be securely sent electronically / emailed to your healthcare institution.
For more info on how the service works see our Healthcare Institutions page and select the type of healthcare institution that best represents where you work.
The My Emergency Doctor service is available for all Australians 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; whether for the parent of a sick child at 2am, the mobility-impaired elderly at home or in an aged care facility, or anyone seeking to avoid long hospital waits.
We put the patient at the centre of our service, providing layered support to the facility and patient’s GP, especially in the after-hours; focussing on assessing, diagnosing and treating their condition(s).
Our senior emergency specialist doctors (FACEMs) are experienced in managing busy hospital emergency departments (ED). They specialise in diagnosing and managing acute conditions in patients previously unknown to them, with limited information. Their experience uniquely positions them to advise which patients need to go to an ED and those who can be treated at home/ health institution or by their GP.
Through audio and video technology, our consulting emergency specialists can talk to patients and clinical staff, view injuries or symptoms of illness before diagnosing, prescribing and making treatment plans and other arrangements with patient transfer services or pharmacies.
As a complete solution for acute emergency presentations we issue prescriptions and referrals for pathology and imaging, can work with local care teams to determine a treatment plan, and can share a consultation summary. This allows us to complement existing care pathways as summaries can also be uploaded to My Health Record.
It’s in this way that we have been able to help and manage approximately 85%-90% of all our patients where they are, in situ, without the need for ambulance transfer and/or to an emergency hospital department.
Clinical staff who use My Emergency Doctor’s service will have prompt access to an senior emergency specialist doctor (FACEM) in a medical crisis, who will provide timely medical consultation and may minimise potentially avoidable transfers. At the same time the service contributes to patient comfort by supporting patient preferences if they need to be managed in place and reduces the risk of hospital acquired infections by avoiding transfers to Emergency Departments.

Examples of cases successfully managed by our emergency specialist doctors:
- Febrile patients (whether with UTI, pneumonia, cellulitis or other infection)
- Injured patients (including suspected minor head injuries, fractures, burns, wounds)
- Asthma exacerbations
- Abdominal pain
- Palliative care
My Emergency Doctor is an emergency telehealth service. We do not provide in-person consultations. We also do not prescribe S8 medications. We also don’t provide routine care as we are there for urgent and acute cases.
We’re here to help you with our service. Please contact us on External Link 1800 123 633
or send an online enquiry.

Downloadable support resources for Residential Aged Care Facilities using My Emergency Doctor

We have made available online the following support guides (PDFs) for download:

Do you need extra service support to use My Emergency Doctor in your Aged Care Facility?

We’re here to help.