WHIN coordinator program modes of delivery

On this page

1. Face-to-face
2. Home visits
3. Virtual care

The WHIN Coordinator program is primarily delivered in schools. However, the program can also be delivered from various settings, including local health district community health centres, at a client’s home (home visit) or other appropriate sites to meet the client and/or family needs and address barriers to accessing the program.

The wellbeing nurse may choose to use any mix of service delivery modes, including face-to-face or virtual care modalities (telephone, video conferencing, instant messaging or email). The choice of delivery mode depends on:

• client preference
• geographical location
• work health and safety risk factors.

Face-to-face

The wellbeing nurse ensures all face-to-face consultations with a client and/or their family regarding their health and wellbeing occurs in a private, secure and comfortable environment. The environment should be free from external intrusion and ensure complete confidentiality and privacy for the client.

Any risks associated with seeing clients alone are identified, eliminated or effectively minimized in accordance with Chapter 16 of the NSW Health Protecting People and Property Manual.

Home visits

There may be occasions where it is appropriate for the wellbeing nurse to conduct home visits as part of a wider engagement strategy with the client and/or family. Conducting home visits is at the discretion wellbeing nurse and the local health district. The wellbeing nurse must not be placed at risk to their personal safety when conducting home visits and makes efforts to reduce the risks by:

• following Chapter 16 of the NSW Health Protecting People and Property Manual and local health district work safety policies and procedures
• completing a risk assessment before conducting a home visit to identify any dangerous risks and develop a plan to ensure worker safety
• recording risk assessment in the eMR
• establishing check in/out procedures with the schools and their managers to enable their movements to be tracked.

Virtual care

Virtual care is an interaction between a clinician and a client, or between a clinician and other clinicians occurring remotely with the use of information technologies. Appropriate virtual care modes for the wellbeing nurse include:

• telephone conferencing
• video conferencing
• asynchronous communication, including Store and Forward, email, text messages, or instant messaging e.g. Microsoft Teams chat
• patient apps such as mHealth.

Requirements to support the delivery of virtual care for the WHIN Coordinator program are listed below.

Wellbeing nurse requirements

• Access to telephone, smartphone, tablet or computer
• Webcam, headset and speaker is using a computer
• Video conferencing capability via supported NSW Health platforms e.g. MyVirtualCare
• Safe and private space for consultations with clients

Client requirements

• Access to a phone, tablet or computer with stable internet connection or data
• Device with camera (video conferencing)
• Aids or appropriate supports if visually or hearing impaired
• Safe and private space for consultations with wellbeing nurse

Not all clients and/or family may be suitable for virtual care or wish to communicate with the wellbeing nurse via virtual modes. In addition to client and/or family preference, the wellbeing nurse uses clinical judgement to determine if a client and/or family is suitable for virtual care.

Considerations for assessing suitability for virtual care include the following:

• information can be gathered, or concerns addressed safely and satisfactorily
• cultural factors and language challenges, e.g. whether an interpreter is required
• client’s cognitive ability
• the level of trust and rapport with the client and/or family

• the presence of violence, abuse or neglect and any known trauma history and if the client and/or family is able to indicate if they are no longer safe or have sufficient privacy.

These considerations should be reviewed regularly in consultation with the client and/or family.