Telehealth service geared at protecting hospital emergency departments wins two business awards. Emergency Consult and its CEO, Jenni Falconer, went home winners from Friday night's Waikato Business Awards gala dinner at Claudelands Event Centre in Hamilton.
The telehealth service took out two awards – the business won the InnovaFon Award, and CEO Jenni Falconer was named Emerging Leader of the Year. The judges' official feedback commented, "Emergency Consult has created a platform that facilitates rapid and efficient emergency consultations. They have bridged the gap between patients and medical experts, providing real-time advice at the touch of a button.
"This innovation has the potential to significantly reduce response times, improve patient outcomes, and ultimately save lives. Their dedication and commitment to addressing a critical healthcare need is commendable."
Emergency Consult provides 24-hour urgent care remotely. An expert doctors and nurses team sees and treats patients on-demand via web-based video chat. Patients can pay and access the service directly, or be referred by one of many healthcare providers aligned with Emergency Consult.
"While telehealth is becoming more common, it is typically used for booked appointments. We've taken that concept - and added our emergency medicine expertise and an on-demand model – and applied it to new sectors and new scenarios," said Falconer.
"For example, we're working with Hato Hone St John ambulances in Auckland to treat patients in their homes and reduce hospital transfers. And we're working with pharmacies to see their customers on the spot in-store.
"We work with several health providers to see where our 'top of the cliff' intervention makes the most difference to patients and the health system."
Emergency consult supported the aged residential care sector with virtual Registered Nurses during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when nurses were even more scarce – and they continue to do so.
"We provide a clinical safety net for aged care providers. Not only can we provide senior RNs at short notice, but we can escalate a patient to be seen by an Emergency Medicine Specialist without the trauma of moving the elderly patient to the hospital," said Falconer.
Emergency Consult was established in 2019. Now-CEO Jenni Falconer founded it along with three colleagues – all of whom are emergency medicine doctors. They are currently the only telehealth provider in New Zealand offering video consultations on-demand 24-hours.
Falconer said both awards can be attributed to outstanding teamwork.
"We have a team of people who are strongly committed to digital transformation in the health sector. We're heralding hybrid healthcare to protect health services – and the people in them.
"It's a privilege to work alongside passionate doctors, nurses and our ops team every day who share the same drive to improve healthcare," said Falconer.
Head judge Dr Heather Connolly of Waikato University's Management School said the judges were impressed with the quality of this year's finalists.
"We were also pleased to see the number of entries up on last year. The calibre of entrants was excellent, and it's always encouraging to see businesses enter for the first time," said Connolly.
The Waikato Chamber of Commerce business awards were presided over by a panel of 29 judges who assessed 76 business entries - from Te Kauwhata to Taupō. It is the first time Emergency Consult has entered the awards.
