The Aboriginal community experience of the Virtual Rural Generalist Service in Western New South Wales: A yarning study

Purpose The Virtual Rural Generalist Service (VRGS) is an innovative hybrid medical model providing 24/7 medical support to rural public hospitals in Western New South Wales (NSW) where local doctors need additional support or where there is no local doctor available. A key component of the evaluation was to understand the impact of VRGS on access to healthcare for Aboriginal people 1 1Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are respectfully referred to throughout this article as Aboriginal in accord with NSW Health Policy (NSW Health 2005). living in rural NSW and their experiences and views of virtual care provided by VRGS. Methods Nine Aboriginal health workers from five VRGS sites were recruited and trained as Aboriginal community researchers (ACRs). The ACRs led the qualitative part of the Aboriginal community experiences component, including conducting all yarns, participating in the interpretation of findings, and formulating recommendations for ongoing service improvement. Main findings Virtual healthcare delivered by VRGS was acceptable to some Aboriginal people but not others. VRGS improved access to a doctor afterhours or when a patient could not get an appointment. The connection and engagement with the VRGS doctor varied and many of the participants would have liked to have had someone they trust with them during a VRGS consultation, to help them communicate with the doctor and explain things after the consultation. Education, Adequacy of care, Trust and rapport, and Communication were four important themes for informing continuing engagement and improved provision of care with VRGS for Aboriginal people living in rural NSW. Principal conclusions There is clear variability in the experience of VRGS for Aboriginal patients and their carers across rural sites. While there is more work to do, the VRGS model can provide quality, culturally acceptable, remote healthcare when a doctor is not available locally.