Hospitals and Healthcare

When Katherine Andrew sought help for postnatal depression after her first baby, she found it too hard to go to face-to-face counselling appointments, but when telehealth was made widely available last year it was a game changer.

The Australian government has spent $1.97bn since the system was introduced as the e-health record in 2009

Australia's biggest medical appointment booking app HealthEngine is facing multi-million-dollar penalties after an ABC investigation exposed its practice of funnelling users' personal health information to law firms.

For the past five months, the Katherine Hospital has been unable to find a specialist doctor to help manage its busy emergency department. Now the NT government is resorting to a virtual role, raising concerns for patient care. 

Past upgrades to the state's medical record system have cost tremendous amounts of money, and on at least one occasion, forced clinicians to revert to paper-based methods.

Digital health experts have gathered at UNSW to discuss the future of healthcare technology and the use of big data in health systems around the world at the first International Digital Health Symposium.