healthdirect Australia 1800 022 222

healthdirect Australia is a toll free 24 hour, seven day a week health advice line to all people calling from within Western Australia. healthdirect's experienced nurses provide immediate professional advice on how urgent a health concern is and what to do about it.

The aim of healthdirect Australia is to make health services more accessible and facilitate service delivery closer to where people live.

Established in 1999 as HealthDirect (now healthdirect Australia), the triage service is part of the DoH Health Call Centre (HCC).

healthdirect Australia provides a health triage service via the telephone, by teletypewriter if the caller has a hearing impairment or through the National Relay Service for people who are deaf or have a speech and/or hearing impediment. Telephone triage involves assessing the urgency of a person’s medical condition through a series of questions. A caller may be a member of the public calling about their own health or they may be calling on behalf of another person, such as a family member or friend.

All healthdirect calls are answered by qualified and experienced nurses with additional training in telephone triage. The goal of telephone triage is to recommend an appropriate level of care (disposition) within an appropriate timeframe, and to provide advice where required. Dispositions range from immediate transfer to hospital via ambulance (with advice on care for the patient until the ambulance arrives) to reassurance and advice on home care. The service also provides information on where health services are located. Triage nurses use computerised decision support protocols to help them reach the correct disposition for a given call. Telephone triage is not a diagnostic service; rather, it is designed to provide recommendations and help callers make informed decisions.

Reports:

• healthdirect 2nd Quarter Report 2008 (PDF)
• healthdirect 1st Quarter Report 2008 (PDF)
• healthdirect 4th Quarter Report 2007 (PDF)
• healthdirect 3rd Quarter Report 2007 (PDF)
• healthdirect 2nd Quarter Report 2007 (PDF)
• healthdirect 1st Quarter Report 2007 (PDF)

Contact Information:

This Unit appears in the following related topics:

• Emergency and Crisis