Access to health care is problematic for non-metropolitan populations, with patients travelling greater distances to reach facilities with fewer resources. The maldistribution of the medical workforce has been well documented. Regional, rural and remote facilities struggle to attract and retain health professionals even where positions and funding are available. 

Virtual care has established itself as a viable and safe option for patients in rural areas under some circumstances. 

There are a variety of acute virtual care models in use across Australia.  Amongst health services offering telehealth by emergency physicians, some offer direct communication between providers and consumers in their homes, and in others emergency physicians offer advice to paramedics in the field. Retrieval Services Queensland Telehealth (RSQ-T) service offers a clinician support model of care. RSQ T provides specialist outreach clinical services to Rural and Remote hospital Emergency departments in Qld. RSQ T is both an advice and support service for rural and remote clinicians and a safety net service when no onsite medical cover is available. The service provides access to experienced ED and ICU Clinical Nursing staff, Emergency Nurse Practitioners, Emergency Physicians, and Senior Midwifery Advisors. The service provides support for all ED presentations across the full spectrum of Emergency care. Communication is via high-quality two-way video and two-way audio streaming. Importantly, the service and clinicians are integrated into the local and state-wide processes for managing acute emergency patients in Queensland. This presentation will describe the model of care used by RSQ-T and give an overview of service use.