Consumers leaning in to telehealth convenience

“The current change in the area of needs classification, makes it very difficult for foreign doctors to come and work in the cities. As a result, notwithstanding COVID-19, we have not seen any UK doctors/general practitioners coming into Australia in the last three years.

“Australia relies heavily on international medical graduates to render health services including within the hospital system. That is why I strongly believe that telehealth is going to bridge the gap in the coming years.”

According to data gathered by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 40 per cent of patients are waiting up to 24 hours to see their doctor for urgent care, while approximately one in four patients are waiting longer for appointments than they believe is acceptable.

The issue is more pronounced in regional areas, compounding existing inequities between urban and rural populations. Add to this an ageing population and the rising costs of going to a GP, and it is clear that Australia needs innovative solutions to ensure all Australians can receive timely, quality healthcare.

“Hola Health is able to revert to a normal telephone call and consult with the patient if required,” Gopalan says. “Although a video call is preferable, whereby the doctor is able to take visual cues from the patient, if the technology doesn’t support that, we just have to rely on telephone calls. Having said that, you can still get a meaningful history from the patient and understand their problems over the telephone.”

Health group on a mission

Hola Health was started by brothers Lenin and Thiru Rajendran, along with Gopalan, their family doctor, with a simple mission: to provide on-demand medical services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Ultimately, the partners want “on-demand” to mean patients can get a health consultation with a doctor for urgent medical advice or to obtain a prescription within 15 minutes no matter the time of the day or night.

“Our goal for the next 12 to 24 months is to service every Australian in need of a doctor within 15 minutes,” says Lenin Rajendran, Hola Health CEO. “Becoming a business partner with Dr Gopalan gave me the ultimate comfort – having a GP who I could chat to almost instantly whenever I, or my family, had a health concern.

“I want everyone to have this comfort. Our ultimate goal is to scale and provide the same service globally.”

The services offered include 100 per cent bulk-billed mental health treatment plan appointments; telehealth (video) doctor consultations, online medical certificate requests; online script requests; and same day (within two hours) pharmacy delivery.

The group’s mantra focuses on three key areas: patient convenience, as well as accessibility and affordability, so that no one is denied medical treatment regardless of their location or financial circumstances.

“Telehealth is important for three reasons,” says Dr Marcus Tan, founder and medical director of online healthcare booking service Healthengine. “Firstly, tyranny of distance, remoteness and isolation in Australia means getting physically to a doctor is difficult and costly.

“Secondly, the workforce shortage means getting in to see doctors in your area and in a timely manner can be difficult. Finally, there is the issue of clinical safety. Not having to sit in a crowded waiting room filled with other sick and potentially infectious patients is an advantage especially for elderly and susceptible populations.”

Dr Tan believes that telehealth can speed the process for patients to be assessed, leading to a quicker health management plan and, hopefully, a faster recovery.

“The scope of things that telehealth can safely do should increase as progress is made in other technologies such as robotics/AI [artificial intelligence], remote monitoring and point-of-care testing that help with diagnostic accuracy and risk assessment.

“Aside from traditional general practice, it is being increasingly used in lots of other health specialties such as mental health [psychologists/counsellors], medical specialists, dieticians and physiotherapists, among others.”

Telehealth draws increasing public approval

According to ABS data from 2021-2022, 85 per cent of people who have had a telehealth consultation say they would likely use the service again should it be offered. The data also revealed that the general public were becoming increasingly frustrated with trying to access traditional medical practices, with one in three not using after-hours GP services (up from 25.9 per cent in 2020-21) and one in four not using GP services in normal hours (up from 20.6 per cent previously).

“In the three years since we started, Hola Health has reshaped the landscape of healthcare accessibility in Australia,” Rajendran says. “What began as a mission to deliver medicine quickly evolved into a thriving platform seamlessly connecting patients, pharmacies and doctors, irrespective of place or time.

“But the team is far from finished. There are more vital medical services that remain out of reach for many Australians and more work to be done making healthcare available to all. But if there’s a problem, there’s a solution. We don’t give up.”

To find out more, please visit Hola Health