DISTANCE is no longer an obstacle for many local patients seeking specialist care, with a video-conferencing tool called Telehealth, connecting Inverell residents with Armidale doctors.
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Patient Wendy George said her doctor recommended the tool to help cut travel time for her follow up appointments.
Supervised by local physiotherapist Liz Wellard, she was able to consult with Armidale orthopaedic specialist Dr Robin Diebold and physiotherapist Gemma Model from Inverell District Hospital.
Exercises could be supervised via video link and x-rays sent back and forth within a few minutes.
“It was better than I thought. It was nice and clear, and you can see it properly,” she said.
Although patients may still need to travel for their initial appointments, or in cases where the clinician needs to lay hands or use specialist equipment, the twice weekly clinics can cut out travel time for many.
Gemma said program stopped many patients from missing out on much-needed consultations.
“What happens is, sometimes they just don’t turn up for maybe four weeks in a row, to Armidale - this is before we did the Telehealth - they simply haven’t got the money for fuel to get down here. By then, the fracture’s as it is,” she said.
“If you do that, it’s a big deal. So at least this way, we get far better attendance, because they’ve only got to get to the Inverell Hospital. It makes quite a difference, I think.”
Liz said Telehealth was available to anyone, and had even used the program herself, when her daughter broke an arm.
“She had to go and have her arm reduced in Armidale, and then every other appointment was Telehealth. So I didn’t have to take a day off work,” she said.