1 December 2025

Victoria’s first Virtual Hospital – led through a partnership between Austin Health and the Royal Melbourne Hospital – has begun to take patients from today, Monday 1 December 2025.

The six-month pilot will see more than 250 patients receive specialist hospital care in their own home for a range of needs, including cardiac care.

The virtual hospital pilot means patients can leave hospital sooner or avoid admission to a hospital ward altogether.

An initial focus for the Virtual Hospital Pilot is on supporting patients with heart failure to recover at home.

Patients with heart failure presenting to Austin Health’s Emergency Department or specialist clinics, who require admission to an inpatient ward, can now instead be cared for at home.

These patients will be admitted instead to a virtual ward where Victoria’s Virtual Hospital is providing hospital level care to these patients in their homes using video, telephone and other digital technologies such as wearable devices that can be used to monitor for example a patient’s heart rate.

The Virtual Ward is staffed by a multi-disciplinary team including medical, nursing and pharmacy clinicians.

Patients are monitored and cared for at home with access to necessary medications. They are then connected with follow-up care through a specialist appointment or community services to reduce the chance of being readmitted.

The program also frees up hospital beds for those who need them most, reduces waiting times, and improves statewide access to specialist services.

In the coming months, The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Austin Health will continue to expand Victoria’s Virtual Hospital to include:

• Providing rural and regional health services and their patients with access to specialist level care closer to home across a range of specialities such as cardiology, neurology and haematology
• Supporting ambulance and health service capacity and demand coordination, to make meaningful use of data, to help ambulances get back on the road faster
• Providing regional mums-to-be with access to a virtual foetal monitoring service, which will enable scans to be completed in their local area by transferring imaging to specialists at The Royal Women’s Hospital in real time for virtual consultations – avoiding the need to travel to Melbourne.

Austin Health has a strong track record of delivering safe, effective virtual care with solid patient outcomes and minimal risk.

Delivering Victoria’s Virtual Hospital in partnership with the Royal Melbourne Hospital provides a platform to continue to innovate and deliver better care to patients.

Commenting on the beginning of the Virtual Hospital pilot, Austin Health CEO Jodie Geissler said:

“Virtual care is not new for Austin Health—we’ve been delivering it successfully for years with excellent outcomes and minimal risk.

This pilot builds on that experience and takes it statewide in partnership with Royal Melbourne Hospital.

It means patients can recover faster and more comfortably at home while still receiving expert care, and it improves access for rural and regional Victorians without the need to travel to Melbourne.”

The pilot is supported by a $3 million investment from the Victorian Government, announced in the 25/26 Victorian Budget.