Bairnsdale Regional Health Service has completed its rollout of groundbreaking Microsoft HoloLens augmented technology across East Gippsland, which is already bringing specialist healthcare much closer to even our remotest communities.
Now, Orbost Regional Health (ORH) is considering how satellite internet connectivity that drives HoloLens can be made more mobile in the near future.
BRHS partnered with Microsoft and tech solutions company Velrada in a successful trial of HoloLens at the Dargo Bush Nursing Centre in mid-2022.
Commonly used for construction and military purposes, this is believed to be the world-first application of the technology in a medical setting.
HoloLens allows a specialist doctor anywhere in the world to meet a clinician and patient in a remote location in a virtual consulting room in which the remote clinician uses a headset to give a treating doctor real-time vision and audio and allows them to direct care.
Mapping technology within HoloLens allows a specialist treating a patient needing ongoing wound care to trace the extent of the wound, see how it’s healing, see and hear the patient and clinician in real time and draw a virtual diagram to direct the clinician how they want the wound treated.
HoloLens greatly reduces travel time for regional and remote residents seeking specialist medical care and could improve health and personal outcomes for patients by ensuring they spend less time away from home travelling for medical care.
Based on the success of the Dargo trial, BRHS has purchased 12 HoloLens units for East Gippsland health agencies – the Bush Nursing Centres at Dargo, Cann River, Gelantipy, Swifts Creek, Buchan and Ensay, Orbost Regional Health, Omeo Regional Health, Gippsland Lakes Complete Health, BRHS itself and its Maddocks Gardens residential aged care facility.
The rollout and staff training at each location was completed just before Christmas.
HoloLens allows a doctor in Bairnsdale, Melbourne or anywhere else in the world to consult with a patient and a nurse or doctor in a holographic consulting room.
Orbost Regional Health Chief Executive Officer Vicki Farthing said ORH will at first apply HoloLens to enhance Occupational Therapy (OT) services already conducted via telelink with an Occupational Therapist in South Australia.
“We’re the last health service in the east before the NSW border. We service from Orbost all the way to the NSW border. In our area there are a lot of remote places with very poor connectivity. It can take a couple of hours to go and see a doctor if they need to see somebody,” Vicki said.
“There is a lot of chronic disease in East Gippsland – regional data shows a high prevalence of cancer and chronic disease, especially of the heart and the lungs, and diabetes. People don’t necessarily closely monitor their conditions, so by the time they come in or get to see a GP, because GP appointments aren’t always available, their symptoms are worse than they would have been if treatment had been available sooner.
“To link people into some sort of consistent Telehealth consultation, we hope it will improve access to health care for people with chronic disease but also reduce the severity of their episodes as well.”
A key component of HoloLens for remote communities is Starlink satellite internet services. Starlink has been fitted to buildings occupied by all services using HoloLens to ensure high-speed connectivity is always available.
Vicki said ORH is exploring with BRHS’ Telehealth team ways to make Starlink portable, so her staff can take it to remote towns such as Tubbut, Bonang and Deddick Valley and further reduce barriers to health care.
She said ORH is hoping that grants will allow her team to secure space such as in former schools in those areas as consulting rooms where HoloLens can be used with a car-based Starlink connection.
“That area has been affected by bushfires, and now COVID-19, and they are quite remote,” she said.
“For us to be able to provide those services to them will be phenomenal because it’s a full day out for them just to come and see a doctor. And they still have to tend to their farm animals or do whatever they need to do.”
Vicki said BRHS has been a solid player to partner with on HoloLens. ”Our partnership has been really strong, and it’s getting stronger as we go,” she said.
