Remote Consultations - Queensland Section

RFDS medical officers provide a 24 hour medical consultation service (using telephones and radio transmission) to people living, working or travelling in remote and rural Queensland. Over 36,000 consultations are conducted each year. Advice is given to rural doctors, remote area nurses, allied health staff, Indigenous health workers, patients and carers.

As part of a service provided to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), medical officers at the RFDS Cairns Base provide telephone medical advice and assistance to Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) vessels at sea. Other RFDS health professionals (e.g. child health nurses and allied health professionals) are available for follow-up consultations by telephone from their respective RFDS base offices.

Many health facilities in rural and remote Queensland have video conferencing which continues to be integrated, along other telehealth technologies, into rural and remote health service delivery.

Consulting from a distance is a challenging task and requires a high degree of medical skill and excellent communication on the part of the medical practitioner.