Summary
TeleOncology services have made it easier for rural and regional residents to have their cancer treatments closer to home.
The new TeleOncology service is easing the burden on rural cancer patients, offering high-quality treatment closer to home and eliminating the need for long, stressful journeys to city hospitals.
For cancer patients in West Moreton’s rural areas, accessing life-saving treatment can often feel like an overwhelming challenge.
A substantial 35 per cent of current patients live closer to a rural hospital, with many patients facing the daunting task of travelling long distances.
TeleOncology is just one of the ways West Moreton Hospital and Health Service (HHS) is using telehealth to enhance care, build skills, and keep highly trained professionals in rural communities.
Ipswich Hospital Clinical Nurse Consultant for Oncology and TeleOncology Karlee Excell said one elderly patient at Esk relied on an ambulance to transport her to Ipswich Hospital to receive treatment for lung cancer.
“As an older woman, she only drove locally and found it scary to drive the 191km return trip with the added challenge of finding a park,” Karlee said.
Her treatment itself would take one hour but she would wake up at 4am to get ready and wait hours to be picked up and dropped off so it became an all-day affair.
The TeleOncology service, which connects patients with the oncology team at Ipswich Hospital through video calls, launched at Esk in August 2024.
It is the second West Moreton HHS rural hospital to offer TeleOncology, after Laidley Hospital introduced the service in May.
West Moreton region’s high cancer incident rate – more than 8,310 people from 2017 to 2021 – exceeds the Queensland average.
The team has administered 50 anti-cancer treatments rurally since commencing, saving rural patients a total of 5,115km in travel to Ipswich.
Karlee said her elderly patient did not hesitate to accept treatment at Esk Hospital, where she could now drive herself to appointments.
Accessible, convenient care was key in ensuring patient attendance, she said.
“There’s another patient who would miss appointments at Ipswich Hospital because it was too hard to get there,” Karlee said.
“He is now being seen at Esk Hospital and said if he couldn’t have treatment there, he would have stopped his treatment altogether.
“I think it’s important that our rural patients receive equitable care that is safe, high quality and closer to home.
“Where they live shouldn’t be a barrier for receiving treatment.”
The Laidley and Esk hospitals nominated three to five nurses who underwent extensive training, including five-day training sessions at Ipswich Hospital.
Karlee said those nurses were now skilled in accessing central venous lines, administering chemotherapy, immunotherapy and supportive therapies by injection or infusions, monitoring for side-effects, and patient education.
“The cancer treatment is very specialised so it’s important to administer carefully for both the staff member and the patient,” she said.
“The nurses also need to be able to pick up any side-effects the patient might have and know how to deal with it safely and confidently."
Ipswich Hospital TeleOncology Nurse Manager Kim Toohill said demand for TeleOncology had risen significantly, such was the service’s success.
“It’s good. People are simply happy it’s closer to home and don’t have to worry about the travel time or finding parking,” Kim said.
“The patients visit Ipswich Hospital for a face-to-face check in every three months, but their treatments remain in their local rural hospital.”
Find out more about the services on offer at Ipswich Hospital here: Service Locations | West Moreton Health