THE Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy last week announced that a $1.55 million program to deliver additional care to cancer patients around Armidale via the National Broadband Network (NBN).
Independent Member for New England, Tony Windsor said the funding for the Cancer Care Self-Management NBN Telehealth Program had again illustrated the NBN’s value to regional Australians.
“Additional care over the NBN is expected to improve the health of local cancer patients, while simultaneously reducing the burden on local health services,” Mr Windsor said.
“Patients will develop self-management plans in consultation with their medical team, and they will use in-home monitoring equipment to manage their symptoms with the support of a care co-ordinator.
“Patients will also be able to consult health professionals through multi-party high-definition videoconferencing over the NBN, reducing the need to travel and allowing quicker responses to a change in symptoms.
“More prompt and responsive care will improve health outcomes and quality of life for local cancer patients and survivors,” Mr Windsor said.
The rollout of this new program is further evidence of the benefits to the New England of being an NBN first-release site, according to Mr Windsor.
“The NBN is the platform for a vast range of new applications that will greatly improve quality of life in the country, with this telehealth program being just one example,” Mr Windsor said.
“To provide clinical-grade videoconferencing, telehealth requires the high upload and download speeds, reliability and widespread availability of the NBN.
“I’m very pleased that local cancer patients will be among the first to benefit from the early rollout of the NBN in the New England.”
