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Background This paper aims to assess the barriers and solutions to the delivery of eye care in primary care settings and solutions to improve the use of comprehensive eye care among Indigenous Australians. Design, setting, participants Qualitative, mixed method study participants include Aboriginal community members, and health and eye care providers in urban, rural and remote settings. Main outcome measures Present evidence for health care providers to better understand and address some of the barriers that limit access to eye care in primary care settings. Results Patient perspectives on barriers to accessing eye care and reasons they choose to seek care or not are presented. Health system barriers identified by health and eye care providers are also presented. Additionally, key enablers for improving access to eye care through primary care services are identified. Conclusion Primary health care services have an important role in Indigenous eye health. There is a critical role for primary care in the coordination of the patient journey and cooperating with other services to improve access to comprehensive eye care. Through improved provision of primary eye care, monitoring of Indigenous eye health indicators and supporting patients to access eye care, it is possible to close the gap for vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective We investigated patient perceptions of a virtual preoperative anaesthesia evaluation clinic linking Royal Darwin Hospital to Katherine Hospital. Design Descriptive study, cross-sectional survey. Setting Regional and rural areas of Northern Territory, Australia. Participants Sample includes 27 respondents, five Indigenous, 18 non- Indigenous and four unknown. Interventions Introduction of a preoperative anaesthesia evaluation clinic. Main outcome measures We designed a 10-item, 5-point Likert scale questionnaire assessing patient perceptions in four domains: (i) technical quality; (ii) perceived efficacy; (iii) affective patient experience; and (iv) patient preference. Qualitative responses are also reported. Results Twenty-seven out of 35 patients (77%) completed the questionnaire. Ninety-eight per cent were in positive agreement on technical quality with a mean score of 1.35 ( SD: 0.53); Ninety-five per cent on perceived efficacy, 1.35 ( SD: 0.65); Eighty-four per cent in negative agreement on affective patient experience (negative perception item), 4.19 ( SD: 1.07); Eighty-one per cent in negative agreement on patient preference (negative perception item), 4.23 ( SD: 1.14). There were no significant differences in the answers between Indigenous (five patients) and non- Indigenous patients (18 patients). Conclusion Our study confirms the acceptability of telemedicine in the remote assessment of preoperative patients in the Northern Territory, with positive perceptions in all four domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of the study was to improve pathology services in selected remote health centres from the Northern Territory (NT) through the implementation of a quality managed point-of-care pathology testing (POCT) service. Design: Study of the efficacy of the POCT service after 1 year and qualitative survey of POCT device operators. Setting: The study was set in thirty-three remote health centres in the NT administered by the NT Department of Health. Participants: Remote health centre staff at participating remote health centres participated in the study. Interventions: The introduction of the i-STAT device to perform on-site POCT. Main outcome measures: The main outcome measures used in the study were the number of remote staff trained, volume of testing performed and satisfaction of POCT device operators. Results: One hundred and sixty-four health professional staff were trained to perform i-STAT POCT during the first year of the program. A total of 2290 POCT tests were performed on the i-STAT. The volume of testing consistently increased across the year. Tests for international normalised ratio were the most frequently performed (averaging 70 tests per month). Stakeholder satisfaction with the i-STAT device was high, with a statistically significant improvement in satisfaction levels with pathology service provision being reported after the introduction of POCT. Greater than 80% of respondents stated POCT was more convenient than the laboratory service and assisted in the stabilisation of acutely ill patients. Conclusions: The NT POCT Program has been operationally effective and well received by staff working as i-STAT POCT operators in remote health centres. Retention of remote health centre staff is the most significant challenge to ensuring the program's long-term viability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]