The brief
NSW Health engaged 33 Creative to consult with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives about their awareness, attitudes, experiences and communication preferences for virtual care.
Virtual care, also known as telehealth, involves the use of telephone and video conferencing, remote monitoring and store and forward methods to connect patients with healthcare providers for healthcare services.
Virtual care can make it easier and more convenient for to attend appointments and share information with healthcare providers.
Community consultation
Participants helped to identify the benefits of accessing virtual care, including:
- accessing specialist care from home or on County
- saving time and reducing travel, giving more time for family, friends, leisure and work
- enabling family members, carers or other healthcare providers to be involved in appointments
- connecting with specialist services that might not be available locally.
The participants also identified barriers and proposed solutions for accessing virtual care. They raised ideas for communicating with Aboriginal communities – including sharing strengths-based user experience stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people utilising virtual care across a diverse range of care settings.
Our report and recommendations will help to inform future roll out of communications products. Thank you to our consultation participants for sharing their expertise and views to enhance services for the community.
You can access information about virtual care via the NSW Health website here.