Taking telehealth to the bush

Lessons from north Queensland

Watson, Julie
Gasser, Lee
Blignault, Ilse
Collins, Robyn

^*Networking North Queensland, Townsville, Queensland
^†Centre for Online Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane
^‡Information Services, Queensland Health, Mackay, Queensland, Australia

North Queensland Rural Health Training Unit, 8 Cleveland Terrace, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia (Fax: +61 7 4721 1910; Email: [email protected])

Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare 7(2_suppl):p 20-23, December 2001. | DOI: 10.1258/1357633011937344

Networking North Queensland (NNQ) was a two-year project to improve access to health services in rural and remote communities. The project involved email and Internet access in 61 communities, in a region almost three times the size of the UK. Videoconferencing equipment was also installed at 21 sites and a total of 197 h of videoconferencing was recorded at 10 of the remote sites over 12 months. As a result of the project, health consumers enjoyed improved access to medical, specialist, allied health and primary health services. In addition, health service providers had better access to reliable, up-to-date health-care information via intranet and Internet services. Consideration of local issues—local needs and existing resources—was vital to the achievements of the project. Community involvement and community access were also important factors in its success.