Driving thousands of kilometres to access specialist health care is a hurdle many people living remotely face, but medical professionals say the growth of telehealth is allowing more people to access care.
Eating disorder specialist Bruce Campbell has clients across regional Western Australia and said only 4 per cent of his appointments were online before COVID-19.
The proportion of online appointments has now surpassed 90 per cent.
"Now that people are more used to using teleconferencing software [and] talking to people virtually, it has made digital consultations far more appealing," Dr Campbell said.
"Being able to talk about mental illness from the comforts of home can be a real support to people."
Indigenous access rising
Pilbara Aboriginal Health Alliance chief executive Chris Pickett said more Indigenous people living remotely were accessing mental health counselling and GP consultations than ever before.
"You've got to take into account that travel to Perth is often a very big barrier for people out and communities," he said.
"So, I think being in the comfort of their own community clinic and supported with an Aboriginal health worker or a nurse or somebody who can help them through that consultation is something that's very attractive to people."
While telehealth has existed for decades, access to specialists has often been restricted to in-person appointments in large towns and cities.
Funding has seen telehealth hubs created across the state, giving locals access to computers and internet in order to attend virtual appointments.
Telehealth not without its challenges
Mr Pickett believes telehealth is a good short-term solution but wants its funding to come hand-in-hand with more in-person support.
"We struggle getting qualified professionals into the health workforce in the Pilbara and telehealth is a way of substituting some of that resource on the ground in the Pilbara, which we may never really get access to," he said.
WA Regional Development Minister Alannah MacTiernan said she was confident the state and federal governments would continue to fund internet services and telehealth.
"We're confident that we'll be able to work with the incoming federal government to really join our power endeavours and make sure that we've got that broadband capability, because that underpins telehealth," she said.
