The South Australian government has expanded a virtual care program to try and ease pressure on emergency departments, as hospitals continue to grapple with the issue of ramping.
Health Minister Chris Picton announced 10,000 aged care residents will be able to be consulted by medical professionals remotely after a successful trial.
The government hopes the virtual health service will reduce the number of people taken to hospital, with patients spending 3,567 hours ramped in September.
Mr Picton said the latest figures were a 5 per cent decrease on the previous month, when 3,763 hours were lost to ramping, and emergency departments remained under significant pressure.
"When you look at the category one and two cases — which are the most urgent of cases that our emergency department sees — you can see that there's been over a 6 per cent increase in those urgent, most serious cases in our emergency departments compared to the same time last year," he said.
"And there's been an increase even since April of well over 2 per cent of those very urgent cases.
"So even as COVID admissions have been going down, we're seeing more and more serious cases come to our emergency departments, which means not only do we need more resources in our hospitals but some of these measures we can take that can help people get care in their homes are vitally important as well."
Mr Picton said 80 per cent of those involved in the virtual health trial were able to be treated at home rather than in hospital after their consult, freeing up hospital resources and long wait times for the patient.
"That reduces, we expect, six hours of time on average in the emergency department, two hours of time for the ambulance, and for many people what could end up being quite a lengthy hospital stay and additional pressure on the system," he said.
SA Virtual Care Service executive director David Morris said the service was staffed by experienced doctors, paramedics and nurses, and the average wait time to speak to a doctor was around 30 minutes.
"You'll get exactly the same level of expertise through this service as you would if you present to an ED [emergency department] physically," he said.
Thelma Coard, who lives in an aged care facility, said she would prefer to avoid going to hospital if she became unwell.
"I don't like the idea of if anything happened to me, or I had a fall, that I had to go into the hospital again," she said.
"It's too crowded and nobody listens.
"If you stay here, they know who you are and can talk to you."
Angela Gackle's 96-year-old mother lives with dementia in an aged care facility and has had three falls in the past 18 months.
She was taken to hospital for one of those falls, but for the other two she used virtual care services including an X-ray at home.
"From our point of view that's just a way better way to go because she doesn't have to be moved, she doesn't have to be distressed by seeing faces she doesn't recognise," she said.
"So I just think it's a terrific service."
