Western Sydney HealthPathways provides relevant, up-to-date clinical information on managing patient medical conditions, as well as referral information for local services. The dedicated HealthPathways team, in collaboration with local medical experts from the Western Sydney Local Health District and the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, continually develop new localised pathways and review existing pathways to ensure that they remain safe, accurate and clinically relevant.
The HealthPathways team are currently working on over 70 new pathways, including urology, oral health and endocrinology. The newest pathways to be added to the HealthPathways portfolio focus on mental health in children and adolescents:
- Anxiety in Children and Adolescents
- Non-urgent Child and Adolescent Mental Health Assessment
- Child and Youth Counselling
These pathways focus on assessment, management and referral options for children and young people experiencing mental health concerns. This includes information and advice on conducting mental health assessments, common mental health disorders in children, psychoeducation, and mental health referral options.
Since 2013, HealthPathways has grown from 34 pathways to 575 pathways, covering a wide range of health conditions, including 128 with a paediatric pathways focus, and over 150 providing referral information. These pathways have been created to provide health professionals quick access to reliable information during patient consultations. HealthPathways also includes the latest health updates on COVID-19. The portal contains 14 specific COVID-19 pathways that cover topics such as vaccination procedures, COVID-19 testing, COVID-19 positive patient management, and community support.
Last financial year, there were 137,572 pageviews of HealthPathways. Three COVID-19 pathways featured in the top five most accessed pathways, along with the ‘Antenatal – First Consult’ pathway, and ‘Screening and Diagnosis of Diabetes’.
Dr. Aurora Yu, GP at Hills Family General Practice, explains the impact that HealthPathways has made on improving patient care, ‘I’ve been using HealthPathways since it was first launched. I open it up every morning when I come into work and use it for all of my consultations, from checking local hospital referral procedures, to reading the latest diabetes management advice, or printing out information handouts for my patients. HealthPathways takes away the stress of having to remember all of the latest health information – it means I can provide my patients with relevant, localised advice and quality patient care. It is so easy to use, it is like the Google for GPs’.
To access HealthPathways, you will need the general login details. For more information, please contact our HealthPathways team at healthpathways@wentwest.com.au
For WSLHD and SCHN Staff, please access HealthPathways via the WSLHD/SCHN Intranet Applications page.