Sitting in William Creek, more than 800 km north of Adelaide, is Australia’s first unstaffed outback emergency department.
Each year, more than 26,000 tourists pass through William Creek, on the path of the Oodnadatta Track.
But this presents a challenge, with the nearest hospital in Coober Pedy being a two-hour drive away, and an aeromedical crew potentially hours away.
The virtual emergency centre helps solve this issue by providing 24/7 emergency care, with no health professionals needed in the room.
Opening in May 2024, the building features an intercom on the outside that allows anyone to contact the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) SA/NT, which runs the service, and then gain access to the room.
Once they enter, a doctor immediately appears on a screen, and guides the patient on how to measure their oxygen, heart rate and blood pressure, in order to assess their condition.
If they are unstable at all during this process, they are given access to another treatment room with a stretcher.
The room also allows for a family member or friend to be told how to attach an AED or start oxygen, while a local community member can also be activated with emergency drugs.
Under the virtual guidance of a real doctor, immediate treatment can be given for a heart attack, allergic reaction, asthma or trauma and blood loss, and this can continue while an aeromedical team travels to the site.
The Royal Flying Doctor Service’s virtual emergency room has now been open for 18 months and has already saved two lives, and helped to avoid five aeromedical retrievals.
The Royal Flying Doctor Service SA / NT is a finalist in the InnovationAus 2025 Awards for Excellence in the GovTech Project, Product or Service category. The InnovationAus 2025 Awards for Excellence winners and finalists will be celebrated at a black-tie gala dinner at Sydney Town Hall on Thursday, November 27. You can book your tickets here.
The GovTech Project, Product or Service category is proudly sponsored by TechnologyOne.
The category celebrates outstanding achievements in digital transformation, cloud-based platforms, automation, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, blockchain and other emerging technologies aimed at enhancing government operations and citizen engagement.
The virtual health centre is made possible by combining reliable Starlink internet access and the telehealth “kiosk” concept that has been pioneered in Asia, offering 24/7 emergency medical care without the need for doctors to be physically in the room.
“The RFDS saw an opportunity to consolidate and expand on existing and evolving technological solutions: what if a self-contained virtual emergency centre — bringing together telehealth diagnosis, remote oxygen and medication in hospital-grade facilities — could be established in a place like William Creek, one of the most remote and visited locations in the country, and remotely operated from Port August,” RFDS SA/NT executive general manager medical and retrieval services Dr Mardi Steere said.
“This vision drove the creation of a digitally-enabled care model that could be deployed where it’s needed most, and operate effectively 24/7 under the constant expert management by doctors located hundreds of kilometres away.”
Dr Steere said the awards nomination is a “powerful recognition” of how the RFDS is evolving to meet the needs of modern healthcare in remote Australian locations.
“It celebrates the core values of RFDS teams – innovation, collaboration, integrity and care — as the organisation redefines what’s possible in rural and remote care to deliver hospital-grade treatment to the most isolated areas in the country,” she said.
The 2025 InnovationAus Awards for Excellence will be held on November 27 at the magnificent Sydney Town Hall. You can secure individual seats or book a table here. Purchase a table of 10 and have your logo displayed on screens across the venue and in the event programme as a ‘Table Sponsor’.
The InnovationAus 2025 Awards for Excellence are proudly supported by ACS, PEXA Group, the CSIRO ON Program, Griffith Hack, TechnologyOne, Q-CTRL, National AI Centre, University of New South Wales, KPMG, AgriFutures Australia, Investment NSW and IP Australia.
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