Avonia Donnellan Project: Great Southern GP Network and University of Western Australia Funding: Supported by the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development Strategy and Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing project funding

Dr Caroline Bulsara Project: Great Southern GP Network and University of Western Australia Funding: Supported by the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development Strategy and Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing project funding

The Great Southern GP Network supports health professionals working across 98,374 square kilometres in Western Australia. To overcome the challenges of distance, the network partnered with the University of Western Australia’s (UWA) Centre for Software Practice to pursue an innovative virtual solution that links health providers.

The web-based ‘Great Southern Managed Health Network’ (GSMHN) now connects GPs, specialists, hospitals, aged care facilities and allied health providers through a range of services and applications - such as shared electronic health records, secure communications, and remote clinical and administrative management – underpinned by encryption strategies that comply with national data security standards.

The project partnership extended to include UWA primary health care researchers to undertake a formal qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the project. They found the GSMHN has resulted in greater speed of information transfer, more efficient work practices, better communication with health providers, and better access to patient information.

The evaluation study has enabled the project to substantiate reports on its performance and to showcase comprehensive and robust evidence of its wider potential. Already the project is being rolled out in other areas of WA and has been chosen for inclusion in an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development project on the use of information and communication technologies in the health sector.

This innovative local project has proven distance is no barrier to improving patient care if the right links are in place.