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Telehealth and local services

We are living in times unlike we have known before. There is change in how, when and where we can do the things that were once  the normal parts of our lives. For many of us this will cause frustration, loneliness, anxiety or  depression. It is important to keep health both mental and physical high on our priority list. Here on the Mid North Coast there are many local services open to help. Many of them are offering online services or over the phone rather than face to face.

While we see our communities shutting down to safeguard our communal health from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government recently announced support for teleheath services to ensure we retain access to what we need. Here are a couple of excerpts to help you understand the telehealth service – and you can read the full article here: Explained: What is telehealth and how does it work?

Explained: What is telehealth and how does it work?

All Australians will have now access to telehealth under a new $1.1 billion plan which comes into action today.
It will allow patients to access doctors, mental health professionals and other counsellors over the phone, and have those appointments subsidised by Medicare.
The new scheme was announced on Sunday 29th March 2020 in response to the coronavirus outbreak, to keep both patients and health professionals safe.

What is telehealth?

Also known as “Medicare support at home”, telehealth means that appointments with certain healthcare professionals can now take place over the phone or via a video call – such as FaceTime or Skype. The cost of these will now be either covered or subsidised by Medicare, at the same rate a normal bulk-billed appointment with a GP may have been in the past.
 (Graphic: Tara Blancato)

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