The here and now
East CareConnect: Uniting in-person and virtual care
Our new virtual hospital is delivering hospital-quality treatment in people’s homes through traditional medical care and technology.
A new arm of our health service dedicated to harnessing technology to provide hospital-quality care in the community was officially launched in June.
Transformative, state-of-the-art and patient-centred, East CareConnect marks a major step forward in how we can deliver health care and brings our virtual services together under one banner.
For the first time, patients have this year been able to choose ‘hospital’ treatment at home under the East CareConnect Home Hospital service for some conditions which in the past would have required them to physically be at a hospital site.
East CareConnect is the culmination of work which began at the start of this decade with our ground-breaking remote monitoring services Health in a Virtual Environment (HIVE) and Community Health in a Virtual Environment (Co-HIVE).
It was preceded by our Community and Virtual Care Directorate, a strategic unit set up in December 2023 to oversee our virtual development.
An East CareConnect consumer advisory committee was established in May and will ensure community members continue to have a key role in shaping virtual healthcare delivery.
Virtual services are an important part of our ongoing evolution. They are giving patients more choice by enabling care and monitoring from the comfort of their homes, and in turn freeing up physical hospital beds for those who need them the most.
East CareConnect services are helping us lay the foundation for a more sustainable, accessible and equitable healthcare future.
Taking hospital care into the home
Our new Home Hospital service provides hospital-quality care in patients’ homes for conditions such as pneumonia, infections, wounds and heart conditions.
It launched at Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) in July 2024 and expanded to Armadale Health Service (AHS) in June 2025.
The service offers comprehensive, multidisciplinary care through in-person visits by health professionals and virtual means, with remote monitoring of vital signs through wearable technology.
Each service can manage 20 patients at a time. Since 1 July 2024, 393 patients have used Home Hospital.
As part of its operations, Home Hospital is building patient pathways − roadmaps for care − for acute medical, post-surgical, respiratory and complex geriatric conditions.
In May, a GEM@Home (Geriatric Evaluation and Management) pathway was introduced to provide specialised, multidisciplinary care for another 8 older adults in their homes, and a technology-enabled respiratory pathway for people with acute respiratory conditions requiring monitoring and short-term oxygen therapy.
Our existing virtual services also continue to advance.
HIVE (Health in a Virtual Environment), which provides round-the-clock monitoring of vital signs for high-risk patients within EMHS hospital sites, this year supported 3,926 patients across RPH and AHS.
Launched in December 2020, it is continuing to evolve by caring for those most at risk through a dedicated sepsis pathway, and exploring mobile remote monitoring technology and digital charting, for a smarter, connected EMHS.
Co-HIVE, which uses virtual care to support older adults with complex care needs in residential aged care homes (RACH), this year supported over 587 people with more than 1,616 virtual geriatrician consultations to more than 170 RACHs.
It won the Excellence in Person Centred Care – Team Award at the WA Nursing and Midwifery Excellence awards in May 2025. The service, launched in May 2022, is continuing to expand its reach and capability in WA.
