Telehealth opportunities in regional Queensland: a scoping study

We carried out a six month scoping study to ascertain current health service needs in the Queensland towns of Dalby, Chinchilla and Miles. The towns have a high proportion of their populations in the dependent age groups of over 65 years of age and less than 14 years of age. This implies a need for ready access to paediatric and geriatric specialist services. The hospitals in the three towns provided a range of health services, but patients still had to be referred to Toowoomba and Brisbane for specialist consultations. All three hospitals had videoconference facilities, but videoconferencing was mainly used for education, administration and training. General practitioners in the three towns did not use telehealth in their practice. The study reinforced the potential for telehealth services in three key domains: regional hospitals, residential aged-care facilities and general practice.