Poor digital connectivity affecting health of rural Australians

To enhance health care services for rural and remote Australians through technology telecommunications, the AMA Position Statement on ‘Better Digital Connectivity to Improve Health Care of Rural Australians’ urges governments to focus on improving mobile coverage and performance, as well as broadband, and enhancing the resilience of telecommunications infrastructure to natural disasters throughout the country. 

The AMA position statement on Better Digital Connectivity to Improve Health Care of Rural Australians, calls on government to 

• ensure digital platforms can accommodate developments in information and communications technologies and provide digital connectivity through suitable combinations of fibre, mobile phone, wireless, and satellite technologies 

• ensure broadband services are reliable and affordable for all communities, business and services throughout the country (government policies play a tremendous role in bringing internet access to remote regions) 

• consider and implement recommendations of the 2021 Regional Telecommunications Review and adopt recommendations 2, 6, 9, and 12 which call for: 

• Multi-year connectivity investment 

• NBN Co whole-of-system upgrades to regional fixed wireless networks and introduction of measures to increase the accuracy and transparency of mobile network quality and coverage information, including network congestion 

• Removal of data charges for low income and income support recipients in regional, rural and remote Australia accessing all state, territory and federal government services, to improve  affordability for these users         

• Identification of the black spots and marginal areas that are not covered by broadband networks and prioritisation of those areas when expanding NBN infrastructures 

• Creation of universal unmetered online access to government, hospital and health services for people and businesses in rural and remote areas. 

You can read the full position paper here, and read the AMA scoping review for better digital connectivity to improve rural healthcare.