There is enough evidence for telehealth to be integrated into routine clinical practice but services need to be adequately resourced, an oncologist from Queensland argues.

Sabe Sabesan from Townsville Hospital and colleague Jenny Kelly say most telehealth services in Australia are optional, which acts as a barrier to growth and uptake.

There were already several successful telehealth services in Australia and internationally, they said in a perspective article in the MJA.

An example was their Townsville Teleoncology Network in northern Queensland which gives patients in rural and remote locations access to medical and radiation oncologists.

However adequate resources were needed to meet the requirements of the service capability frameworks set out by various jurisdictions and accreditation bodies, they said.

“Where clinicians are expected to employ telehealth models health administrators and managers must ensure that the resources are adequate and the governance structures are in place to enable sustainable implementation and delivery,” they wrote.

“There is sufficient evidence to support the role of telehealth in mainstream service delivery, and it is now time to implement these models as core business,” they concluded