A visit to the doctor is usually a simple proposition for people living in urban areas. Most patients will access medical services close to home; travel will be straightforward, and the trip will take only a small part of their day.

For people living in remote areas, ‘going to the doctor’ is a more complex proposition. Employment and schooling can be interrupted, and hundreds of kilometres may be travelled, sometimes on infrequently scheduled public transport. Families may need to organise alternative care arrangements for children and daily routines will be difficult to maintain. For some patients, leaving home for unfamiliar locations will contribute to the stress of needing medical treatment.

The Northern Territory government subsidises patients’ expenses, but there is still a considerable burden on patients when they have to travel, sometimes hundreds of kilometres, for a ten-minute appointment.

I was asked to review the travel program and devise a way to save the government money while simultaneously putting more dollars in people’s pockets - a challenging task!

At that time, telehealth was in its infancy, and clinical staff weren’t convinced of the benefits. However, given the scope of the review and Government directive, it became clear that the only solution was to minimise travel for patients.

So, to address all the requirements, I designed and managed a project that trialled telehealth across three sites in the Northern Territory. The project ran for 14 months and was remarkably successful. All the sites experienced substantial uptake in appointments, and the response from clinicians and patients was overwhelmingly positive.

At one site, the number of appointments increased significantly from 62 (the previous year) to 519, representing a remarkable 737% rise.  Even the site with the least uptake recorded a 231% increase.

Over a two and a half year period, I conducted the review, wrote the review report, designed the project, managed its implementation, and carried out the evaluation, drawing upon all my extensive experience and skills.

The project not only won the 2016 Chief Minister’s Innovation in the Public Sector Award but, more importantly, had a measurable and positive impact on people’s lives.