Geriatrician
A geriatrician is a doctor who specialises in care of people over the age of 65 and the diseases that affect them. The approach tends to be holistic and involves a multidisciplinary team. The geriatrician concentrates on managing the medical conditions affecting the patient.
An inpatient and outpatient service is available once a month through Cohuna District Hospital in partnership with Swan Hill
District Health and through a Telehealth service called Geri connect if the referral cannot wait for the next scheduled Geriatrician visit.
Telehealth
Telehealth refers to health care delivery, or related processes (such as education), when some of the participants are separated by distance and information and communications technologies are used to overcome that distance.
Telehealth can be a cost effective, real-time and convenient alternative to the more traditional face-to-face way of providing healthcare, professional advice and education. It can help to remove many of the barriers currently experienced by health consumers and professionals, such as distance, time and cost, which can prevent or delay the delivery of timely and appropriate healthcare services and educational support.
The objectives of using telehealth are to:
- improve patient outcomes
- drive greater efficiency in the way health care is delivered
- support the delivery of the quality health care across the state of Victoria and
- make telehealth a viable alternate to the way some health care is traditionally delivered
At Cohuna District Hospital, we have both portable and dedicated telehealth systems which may be used to enable timely access to a specialist as directed by your treating Doctor or support access to a specialist appointment. This will be arranged and undertaken in conjunction with you and your treatment team.