The helpline service provides an additional point of contact for advocacy or support when local responses have not resolved their issues. Credit: krungchingpixs/Shutterstock.

The state Government of Victoria in Australia has rolled out the new Urgent Concern Helpline service, aimed at enhancing patient advocacy. 

Launched by Victorian Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas on September 1, the service is designed to provide an escalation process for patients and their families when they feel their concerns are not adequately addressed. 

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Urgent Concern Helpline, which is part of the broader Safer Care for Kids initiative, will initially be trialled at selected health services, starting with Northern Health from early September.  

This initiative has been established by Safer Care Victoria (SCV) and will be operated by the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department (VVED). 

According to the government, the service aims to ensure that patients and their families have a voice, especially when they are worried about a patient’s deteriorating condition.  

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The helpline service offers an additional point of contact for advocacy or support when local responses have not resolved their issues.  

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It is a direct response to feedback from families and is intended to provide an important escalation process. 

This development is also in line with the recommendations from the “See Me, Hear Me Report”, which outlined necessary actions to enhance paediatric care.  

SCV is co-designing the Safer Care for Kids programme with these parents and carers, as well as with health services, to ensure the success of the initiative.  

As part of the reforms, Victoria mandated the use of the updated, standardised Victorian Children’s Tool for Observation and Response (ViCTOR) charts for recording children’s vital signs, last year. 

Additionally, SCV is developing a round-the-clock virtual paediatric consultation and retrieval system, called “Paediatric Infant Perinatal Emergency Retrieval”. 

It is being developed by VVED in collaboration with the Victorian Paediatric Clinical Network.  

Thomas said: “It’s our responsibility to learn from every sentinel event to ensure it never happens again and that Victorians are receiving the best possible care. 

“We are making significant changes to the way our health services respond to patient deterioration because we know this has historically, and unacceptably, been a significant factor in paediatric sentinel events. 

“The new Urgent Concern Helpline will support families and patients and ensure they have somewhere to turn if they feel their concerns aren’t being heard.”