About telehealth

Telehealth is when you get health care through phone calls or video conferences.

You and your child can get many types of health care and see many types of health professionals using telehealth. For example, you can use telehealth for:

• one-off appointments – for example, GP appointments
• longer-term health care – for example, appointments at hospital clinics or with medical specialists like paediatricians
• therapy sessions – for example, sessions with allied health professionals like occupational therapists, psychologists and speech pathologists.

Sometimes telehealth might be the only way to get a certain service. And sometimes you might be able to choose to have an appointment using telehealth instead of meeting the health professional face to face. It’s always a good idea to ask what your options are so you can choose the option that suits you best.

Benefits of telehealth

Telehealth has many benefits. For example:

• You can still talk to a health professional about your child even if it’s difficult for you to travel to an in-person appointment.
• It can be easier to fit health care appointments into family life. For example, you might need to take your child out of school for only short periods to attend telehealth appointments.
• You can save time and money because you don’t have to travel.
• If your child sees several different health professionals, it can be easier for these professionals to work together and share information.

Who should be at a telehealth appointment

Depending on your child’s age, you’ll probably attend the appointment with your child.

Older children can have part of or all their appointments alone. You and your child will need to give your consent for this. But even when older teenagers have telehealth appointments on their own, they might still want you there sometimes.

Sometimes telehealth appointments will just be between you, your child and the health professional. Sometimes other clinicians or professionals might be there. For example, a nurse practitioner or child and family health nurse might be at a telehealth appointment with a GP or paediatrician.

You can also choose to have a support person or an interpreter with you at the appointment.

You can choose who’s at the appointment. And you can tell the health professional if you’d prefer for someone not to be there.

What to take to a telehealth appointment

You might be asked to share documents like assessment reports, photos or videos.

It’s good to have a notepad and pen. You can write down questions you want to ask, answers from the health professional, and anything else that you want to remember.

What to do at a telehealth appointment

At the start of the appointment, it’s a good idea to tell the health professional what you want to talk about. For example, ‘We’d like to talk about ways to improve sleep’.

You might also need to be more actively involved in a telehealth appointment than an in-person appointment. If your child is young, you’ll do most of the talking or explaining. Older children might still need your help to talk to the health professional.

And remember that the health professional might not be able to see and hear you as clearly as they can during an in-person appointment. So you and your child might need to clearly tell the health professional how you’re feeling, whether you have concerns, and when you don’t understand something.

Check out our illustrated guide to telehealth appointments for information about setting up appointments, preparing children for appointments, and getting the most out of appointments.

Deciding whether telehealth is a good option for children

Here are things to think about when you’re deciding whether telehealth is a good option for you and your child.

Video conferencing technology
You usually need access to a computer, tablet or smartphone, plus an internet connection that can handle video calls. If you don’t have these things, contact the health service. Some services might give you the option of going to a local community health service to have your telehealth appointment. Others might lend you an appropriate device.

Your child’s condition
Telehealth works better for some conditions than others. For example, it’s not possible for a doctor to look inside your child’s ears using telehealth. But telehealth can be adapted. For example, a local nurse could do an examination and send the results to your child’s doctor, or you could combine telehealth with in-person appointments.

If you’re not sure how telehealth will meet your child’s needs, speak to the health care service about your concerns before the appointment.

Children’s interactions with health professionals
Some children interact easily with clinicians using telehealth, because they’re used to speaking to people online or on the phone. Other children find it harder. Health professionals will understand if your child is slow to warm up in a telehealth appointment. Even if it takes a while for your child to get comfortable, the appointment can still be a worthwhile experience.

Medicare funding for telehealth
Medicare funds telehealth in some circumstances. It funds a range of medical and allied health appointments.

If you’re not sure whether your child’s telehealth service is covered by Medicare, just ask the health care service. If you have private health cover, check with your insurer to see what they’ll cover.

Telehealth video conferencing platforms are safe and protect patient privacy. Sometimes, your child’s health professional might need to record an appointment. But they won’t do this unless you’ve said it’s OK. If you have concerns about privacy, it’s best to talk about these concerns with your health professional.