Planning And Implementing A Single Point Of Entry To Sub-Acute Ambulatory Care Services

This paper describes the process of redesigning access to a range of sub-acute ambulatory care services at Melbourne Health, which is a major public health provider in Victoria, Australia. The redesign process includes the establishment of a single point of entry for referrals. The context is one of high demand for the services with referrals from a broad range of sources. These sub-acute ambulatory care services require specialised areas of expertise for effective service delivery and optimal client outcomes. Government and organisational requirements of optimising efficiency, effectiveness and accountability of all services and clinicians, have been drivers for change in the existing processes. This paper describes and evaluates the previously existing system. It then outlines the development of the integrated model with a single point of entry, the establishment of the triage process and the implementation of the model.