The WA Virtual Emergency Department will expand its program to allow residents across the state to receive health care assistance from their home. 

A new partnership between Healthdirect Australia and WAVED will provide eligible adults across WA calling the Telehealth service with an expert clinical assessment, without the need to attend an emergency department. 

As part of the WAVED program a mental health co-response model will aim to provide support for a person in crisis and reduce ambulance ramping. 

According to AMA Australia, ambulance ramping in WA increased from 3,404 hours in March 2024 to March 2025, recording 5,451 hours, the second-highest March figure on record. 

The state government says it hopes the program will give all WA residents access to services no matter where they live. 

Executive director of Health Consumers Council WA Clare Mullen says the organisation advocates for sick patients that require support across WA. 

“Virtual care has been in place in some ways in WA for some time now we know that many patients prefer to be able to access emergency healthcare where they live, rather than have the disruption of travelling to a hospital,” she says.

“Consumers were involved in helping to inform how WAVED will run and it’s great that more people will be able to access this service.”

Ms Mullen says the hope is even when there are problems with limited staffing, the program will mean less stress on ambulance services.  

“Workforce challenges do exist, we hope that with other work that is underway to reduce the number of people who end up at emergency department when they could access care somewhere else such as Urgent Care Centres, that initiatives like WAVED will help to ease the pressure.”

Clare Mullen.

Principal project officer from WA Virtual Emergency Department Jessica Dean says the WAVED program is easy and straightforward for WA residents to access. 

“People who are offered this service and consent to participate will be sent an SMS containing a link to the WAVED virtual waiting room. They simply need to click the link and wait for one of the experienced WAVED clinical staff to start the video call,” she says. 

Ms Dean says WAVED still won’t resolve staffing issues for emergency services across WA. 

“Maintaining adequate staffing levels is a system-wide challenge, and it is unlikely that WAVED will be immune to this issue,” she says. 

Ms Dean says the WAVED program is easing pressure for the emergency department and will hopefully come into effect outside of Perth into regional and local areas across WA. 

“Currently WAVED is available in Perth and Bunbury, due to an initial focus on reducing ambulance ramping. However, it is anticipated that further expansion into regional areas will occur in future,” she says.

“Our public emergency department avoidance rate of 72 percent suggests that WAVED is effective in reducing the burden on our busy public emergency departments.”

Sales representative at Trilogy Care Regan Wilkins says it can be a struggle to find workers in regional and remote areas and care services need to follow their procedures when dealing with patients at home.  

“Theres rules and regulations they (care services) have to adhere to under the age care standard,” she says.