An Integrated Model of Telehealth for Australian Palliative Care Services

This thesis aimed to develop a novel Telehealth model to address the workforce and geographical challenges of delivering specialist palliative care in Australia. In so doing, it appraised the feasibility, acceptability, and impact upon patient and caregiver outcomes. On the basis of a comprehensive and successful preliminary study, a multi-centre randomised controlled trial was conducted in both rural and metropolitan settings.This explored Telehealth integration to support the delivery of specialist palliative care services. The thesis demonstrates that Telehealth can positively impact symptom management, quality of life and survival of patients with life-limiting illness. It also benefited caregivers in terms of quality of life.