Overview
Initiative type
Model of Care
Status
Deliver
Published
4 March 2026
Summary
The Wide Bay Virtual Tissue Analytics Service, delivered by Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service, uses AI-supported wound imaging to improve access to specialist care across the region. Clinicians capture images on standard devices, with software analysing them alongside clinical data for remote specialist review and treatment planning. The service enhances care by tracking wound healing, reducing patient travel, supporting remote collaboration, and expanding clinical capacity across the Wide Bay region.
Date: August 2024 - ongoing
Implementation sites
Implemented across Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service facilities, supporting inpatient, outpatient, and community-based wound care pathways.
Partnerships
- Hospital outpatient wound services
- Inpatient clinical teams
- Community and residential aged care providers
- Digital health and telehealth services
- Technology vendor partners
The Wide Bay Virtual Tissue Analytics Service
Aim
To improve access to specialist wound care across the Wide Bay region by enabling accurate, technology-supported wound assessment, remote clinical review, and improved treatment planning while reducing patient travel and service burden.
Outcomes
- 591 patients and 3,956 wounds imaged within the first 12 months
- Improved access to specialist wound expertise across sites
- Faster treatment planning and clinical decision-making
- Reduced need for patient travel to larger hospital facilities
- Increased clinical capacity through reduced outpatient demand
- Improved patient engagement and self-management through use of the patient app
- Enhanced collaboration with carers, family, and community supports
Background
Patients with chronic and complex wounds in regional areas often face significant barriers to accessing specialist care, including travel distance, service availability, and coordination between facilities. Traditional wound monitoring methods can also vary between clinicians and locations, affecting consistency of care.
Digital wound imaging with AI-supported analysis provides an opportunity to standardise assessment, support remote specialist input, and strengthen continuity of care across a distributed health service.
Methods
Clinicians capture wound images using standard smart devices in outpatient, inpatient, and community settings. The AI platform analyses images alongside clinical data to generate structured wound reports detailing wound characteristics, healing progress, comorbidities, consumables, and treatment trends.
Images and reports are securely transmitted to specialist clinicians for remote review, enabling treatment planning without requiring patient travel. A companion patient app allows suitable patients to submit images, communicate with clinicians, and participate more actively in their care.
Discussion and results
The service demonstrates how digital wound imaging and virtual specialist input can improve access to care in regional health systems. Early results indicate improvements in service connectivity, clinical workflow efficiency, and patient experience.
Challenges include digital literacy, device compatibility, and connectivity limitations in some settings, highlighting the importance of ongoing support, training, and staged expansion. Continued evaluation will inform broader rollout and integration into additional care pathways..
Key contact
Tracy Bauer
Nurse Practitioner Wound and Stomal Care
Hervey Bay Hospital