A TELEHEALTH model that changed the way doctors treat rural and remote patients with cancer will be expanded statewide, and into developing countries.
The teleoncology model was developed by doctors in Townsville, and will be expanded to Sri Lanka and India this year.
Eight computers, donated by Queensland Health, will be sent to Sri Lanka within weeks.
A foreign doctor will also travel to Townsville to learn about the technology so it can be adapted in India.
Associate Professor Sabe Sabesan, of JCU’s Clinical School, who is also a senior staff specialist at the Townsville Oncology Centre, said the service had been developed locally over seven years.
Teleoncology, a branch of telehealth, allows patients to speak with doctors via videoconferencing technology, rather than make the long journey to Townsville Hospital. It also means specialists can request tests be done at smaller local hospitals, easing the travel burden on patients while also growing clinical knowledge in remote areas.
Dr Sabesan said the unexpected installation of a videoconferencing telephone in a conference room set the plan in motion.
“I saw the number for the Mount Isa Palliative Care Unit so I rang and asked them to go in to the room and we saw each other on the screen,” Dr Sabesan said. “I said, ‘Why don’t we see oncology patients this way?’ and he said, ‘When do you want to do it?’ ”
From there, the idea grew and the Townsville Hospital and Health Service now provides the largest number of telehealth consultations outside of Brisbane.
In the past year alone, the number of telehealth consultations, as opposed to face-to-face 10 minute check-ups that often involve a patient travelling for hours, have grown by 30 per cent.
THHS chief executive Julia Squire said doctors and nurses carried out 1385 telehealth consultations between July 2012 and June 2013, with 1781 carried out between July 2013 and the end of April.
The Townsville Bulletin yesterday sat in on a consultation between Townsville Cancer Centre medical oncology director Dr Abhishek Joshi and patient Mark Winton, 53.
Mr Winton has incurable kidney cancer. “For me, it’s great because the drive to Townsville would really take it out of me,” Mr Winton said.
The State Government is currently holding an inquiry into telehealth services.