24 hours, 7 days a week.

For non-life-threatening health emergencies.

Contact details: vved.org.au (online registration required)

RACH staff can phone this service and enter their postcode into the dial pad when prompted to find their residential in-reach for their catchment. The call will then be re-directed to this residential in-reach service.

This service operates 24 hours, 7 days a week.

Contact details: 1300 657 585

7 days a week, 7am – 9pm.

For non-life-threatening after-hours care (from 9pm), contact VVED, and state which catchment you are from.

A list of services offered can be found here.

Contact details: 0448 570 420 or email rir@mh.org.au

Eligible postcodes:

• Brimbank: 3020, 3021, 3022, 3023, 3036, 3037, 3038
• Maribyrnong: 3011, 3012, 3013, 3019
• Melbourne: 3000, 3004
• Moonee Valley: 3032, 3033, 3034, 3039, 3040, 3041, 3042
• Merri-bek: 3044, 3046, 3055, 3057, 3058, 3060

Eligible suburbs:

• Aberfeldie
• Ascot Vale
• Avondale Heights
• Brunswick
• Brunswick West
• Coburg
• Coburg North
• Essendon
• Flemington
• Glenroy
• Keilor East
• Kensington
• Moonee Ponds
• Parkville
• Pascoe Vale
  
• Suburbs shared within the West Metro Health Service Partnership; Avondale Heights and Keilor East.
• Suburbs shared outside the West Metro Health Service Partnership suburbs (i.e. Northern): Fawkner and Gladstone Park.

7 days a week. Monday to Friday, 8am – 4:30pm and Saturday to Sunday 9am – 4pm.

A list of services offered can be found here.

Contact details: (03) 8405 8712 or visit Northern Health’s website.

Eligible postcodes:

• Hume: 3043, 3045, 3047, 3048, 3049, 3059, 3061, 3062, 3063, 3064, 3428, 3429
• Merri-bek: 3044, 3046, 3055, 3056, 3057, 3058, 3060
• Darebin: 3070, 3071, 3072, 3073, 3078

7 days a week, 8am – 7pm.

For non-life-threatening after-hours care (from 7pm), contact VVED, and state which catchment you are from.

A list of services offered can be found here.

Contact details: 0419 389 127 or email hithreferrals@mercy.com.au

Eligible postcodes:

• Hobsons Bay: 3028
• Wyndham: 3024, 3027, 3029, 3030

Eligible suburbs:

• Altona Meadows
• Hoppers Crossing
• Laverton
• Point Cook
• Tarneit
• Werribee
• Williams Landing
• Wyndham Vale

7 days a week, 7:30am – 9:30pm.

For non-life-threatening after-hours care (from 9:30pm), contact VVED, and state which catchment you are from.

A list of services offered can be found here.

This residential in-reach service has a 24/7 phone number if you are seeking clinical advice (see below). 

Contact details: 1300 229 656

Eligible postcodes:

• Maribyrnong: 3011, 3012, 3013
• Brimbank: 3020, 3021, 3022, 3037, 3038
• Laverton: 3028
• Hobsons Bay: 3015, 3016, 3025
• Melton: 3023, 3037, 3338
• Moone Valley: 3033, 3034
• Macedon Ranges Shire: 3437, 3438, 3442
• Hume: 3429
• Moorabool Shire: 3340

Eligible suburbs:

• Altona Meadows
• Altona North
• Ardeer
• Avondale Heights
• Burnside
• Cairnlea
• Darley
• Delahey
• Footscray
• Gisborne
• Keilor Downs
• Keilor East
• Kingsville
• Laverton
• Maddingly
• Maidstone
• Melton
• Melton South
• New Gisborne
• Newport
• St Albans
• Sunshine
• Sunshine North
• Sunshine West
• Sydenham
• Sunbury
• Williamstown
• Woodend
• Yarraville

7 days a week, 8:30am – 5:00pm.

A list of services offered can be found here.

Contact details: 1800 891 300

Eligible postcodes:

• Darebin: 3070, 3071, 3072, 3073, 3078
• Yarra: 3065, 3066, 3067, 3068, 3121

This service is only available to RACHs with telehealth equipment in the West Metro Health Service Partership (WMHSP) areas. Contact VVED to be connected to the residential in-reach service in your catchment.

Only available in the WMHSP catchment areas:

• Royal Melbourne Hospital – 9pm to 7am
• Western Health – 9:30pm to 7am
• Werribee Mercy – 4:30pm to 8am

24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

This service allows you to speak with a registered nurse for advice on declining health. This service is not for emergencies. 

Contact details: 1300 606 024

24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The National Dementia Helpline is a free telephone service that provides information and advice.

Contact details: 1800 100 500, webchat or email helpline@dementia.org.au

24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Support for carers of patients already enrolled in this program.  

Contact details: 1800 699 799 or visit Dementia Support Australia’s website.

The Dementia directory lists local services and support for people living in Melbourne with dementia, as well as their carers and families. It complements existing directories for My Aged Care and NDIS. Information sheets are available in English, Italian, Greek, Vietnamese or Simplified Chinese.

Find the Dementia directory here.

24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Support for people living with dementia who are experiencing severe behaviours or psychological symptoms as a result of dementia.

Contact details: 1800 699 799 or visit Dementia Support Australia.

• Melbourne City Mission Palliative Care covering the local government areas (LGAs) of Darebin, Hume, Merri-bek and Yarra
• Mercy Palliative Care covering the LGAs of Brimbank, Hobsons Bay, Maribyrnong, Melbourne, Melton, Moonee Valley and Wyndham
• Banksia Palliative Care Service covering the LGAs of Banyule, Nillumbik and Whittlesea (outside NWMPHN region but part of the North and West Metropolitan Region Palliative Care Consortium)
• Central Highlands Rural Health Palliative Care (Kyneton Health) covering the LGA of Macedon Ranges (part of the Loddon Mallee Regional Palliative Care Consortium)
• Western Health Palliative Care Service covering the LGA of Moorabool (east only – Bacchus Marsh, Ballan) (part of the Grampians Region Palliative Care Consortium)

For more information on suburbs within LGAs for community palliative care eligibility visit here.

7 days a week, 7am – 10pm.

Free, confidential advice for all Victorians seeking information about life-limiting illness, palliative care or end-of-life care.

Contact details: 1800 360 000 or visit pcas.org.au

24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Advice if someone has been poisoned, overdosed, made a mistake with medicine, or been bitten or stung by something venomous. This service is not for emergencies. 

Contact details: 131 126 or visit austin.org.au/poisons

• Advance care planning is the process of planning for future health care. It relates to the health care an individual would or would not like to receive if they were to become seriously ill or injured and unable to communicate their preferences or make decisions. This can often relate to the care received at end of life.
• Professional codes, standards, and guidelines. Nurses must be registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) and meet the NMBA’s professional standards to practice in Australia.
• Advance Care Directive is a document that allows an individual to decide now, or to guide what health care and treatment they receive in the future, if they lose the ability to communicate and make decisions. The writer can also appoint a substitute decision maker who can make decisions on their behalf if they are not able to do so.
• Medical Goals of Care Plans ensure that patients who are unlikely to benefit from medical treatment aimed at cure receive care appropriate to their condition and are not subjected to futile treatment including cardiopulmonary resuscitation and Medical Emergency Team calls. The Victorian Department of Health 3-phase model of goals of care can be found here.
• Early recognition of clinical deterioration in aged care is a project by Safer Care Victoria that will help staff recognise clinical deterioration early and improve outcomes for aged care residents.
• Precious Time helps people in north, west and central Melbourne find support and services for end-of-life care.
• Guidelines for provision of after-hours aged care services for GPs Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Silver Book, offers guidance for GPs providing services to RACHs.

• Comprehensive health assessment of the older person workshops are being offered by Latrobe University for nurses from all sectors, who provide care to older people.
• Advance Care Planning Australia offers supports to health care practitioners, care workers, students, individuals and substitute decision makers to learn about advance care planning.
• Aged Care and Community Provider Association has a range of learning and professional development options for those working in aged care services.
• Palliative Aged Care Outcomes has developed a range of resources for clinicians, residents of RACHs and their families to systematically improve palliative and end of life care.
• End-of-life Directions for Aged Care (ELDAC) provides information, guidance, and resources to health professionals and aged care workers to support palliative care and advance care planning to improve the care of older Australians.
• ELDAC home care app has been designed to help home care workers to provide end-of-life and palliative care to their clients, whilst supporting their families and carers as their care needs change over time.
• Education and training video resources for improved palliative care in aged care, developed by the North and West Metropolitan Region Palliative Care Consortium, help build knowledge and capacity among aged care staff to better identify deteriorating residents, manage symptoms, improve dementia care, and set up medication imprest systems.

• Medical records at residential aged care facilities RACGP Silver Book.
• McGeer’s Definitions for Healthcare Associated Infections for Surveillance in Long Term Care Facilities is a checklist that provides standardised guidance for infection surveillance activities and research studies in RACHs and similar institutions.
• Pain assessment scales can be used to measure pain.
• ISBAR is a clinical handover checklist that aims to improve patient safety and reduce adverse outcomes by improving communication. This form has been shown to improve clinician leadership and involvement and reduces the need for duplication in other clinical handover forms. Training in the use of ISOBAR can be organised by emailing admin@medecslearning.com
• Safer Care Victoria – Early recognition of clinical deterioration in aged care

• The service directory resource provides contact details of after-hour support services in your region, and/or national and state-wide services that may be of assistance for after-hours medical care to residents in RACHs. A template can be found here for your own RACH to keep its own locum after hours services up to date and will not be monitored by the NWMPHN.
• When someone dies in residential aged care: Grief and loss for families booklet. This resource looks at supporting the grief, loss, and bereavement needs of families of people living in residential aged care.
• Safe-Life aged care equipment including CareWatch Alarm and Sensor Pads are devices ideal for residents at high risk of falls if they move by themselves. The function of these devices is to warn nurses if a patient gets up and starts moving around when they are alone.

There are a variety of person-centered digital clinical care systems available that assist RACHs with administration and management tasks, including reporting, electronic care planning, medication management, communication, clinical analysis, mobile data entry, family communication, health monitoring, pathology and more.  

Disclaimer: NWMPHN does not endorse or promote any particular digital solution.  

Digital patient management solutions 

• Autumncare
• Person Centered Software
• Alayacare
• LeecareSolutions
• Manadplus

Medication management 

• Medication management in residential aged care homes is based on evidence and advice from experts, providers and users of medicine in health and aged care services to promote the safe, quality use of medication management in RACHs.
• RACH medicine storage and record keeping. Imprest systems are a resource RACHs can use to store medications in the after-hours period. You can have medications that are Schedule 2, 3, 4, 8 or 11 in your imprest stock.
• Audit tool and checklist for a Medication Advisory Committee (MAC) in RACHs aims to assist RACHs implement or optimise a MAC.
• Electronic National Residential Medication Chart Medication Management Systems is a guide for RACHs looking to implement electronic Medication Management Systems (eMMS).
• eMMS that are compatible with My Health Record include:
  • Medimap
  • MPS Medica EMM by MPS Connect
  • DiamondCare
  • emma
• Other eMMS commonly used in RACHs but not compatible with My Health Record include:
  • Bestmed
  • Medmobile
  • Medisphere

Technology and innovation 

• The ELDAC Technology and Innovation team are developing service resources that can support services in implementing initiatives and building digital and technological capabilities.