Why Australia Needs Always-Available Healthcare — And How We Are Building It

By Dr Ganesh Naidoo, Medical Director, Medmate

Australia’s health system is standing at a genuine inflection point. The release of the National Digital Health Strategy Action & Impact Report reflects a clear policy intention: to build a health system that is not bound by opening hours, geography or legacy workflows. Instead, the future the government imagines is one of continuous availability, interoperability and true patient-centred continuity.

As a clinician who has worked across emergency departments, general practice, remote medicine and telehealth, I see this shift not simply as aspirational, but as essential. Every day in Australia, a parent struggles to find after-hours care for a feverish child, a shift worker wakes unwell and cannot secure a timely GP appointment, or an elderly patient becomes confused about a new medication in the middle of the night. These scenarios do not wait for business hours—and our health system can no longer pretend that they do.

The traditional model, built around episodic access and limited hours, is no longer sufficient. What Australians now need is care availability: accessible, affordable, reliable medical care on demand, seamlessly integrated with their regular GP.

This conviction is what led us to build Medmate.

Healthcare That Meets People Where They Are

Across my years in frontline medicine, what struck me most was not an increase in clinical complexity, but a steady rise in unmet need caused purely by lack of availability. I lost count of the number of patients I treated in the emergency department at 1am with conditions that should never have reached a hospital door—a young woman with a simple UTI who waited six hours in pain because her GP was closed and after-hours services were booked out; a shift worker presenting overnight with a mild asthma flare that could have been managed through early intervention if a doctor had been accessible; parents arriving after midnight with a febrile toddler because they had nowhere else to turn.

These were not emergencies. These were consequences of a system unavailable when people needed it most.

I saw countless ambulance callouts that could have been avoided had timely advice been available, and I witnessed families grappling with clinical uncertainty in situations where five minutes of medical guidance would have made all the difference. The common thread in these presentations was a lack of options. Patients were motivated to seek help. The system simply wasn’t available.

This structural weakness is now explicitly recognised by government. The National Digital Health Strategy Action & Impact Report calls for a modern health ecosystem that is always on, digitally enabled, clinically safe and designed around the realities of consumers’ lives. That vision is not theoretical to us—it is the foundation on which Medmate was built.

Medmate was created as a 24/7 digital front door to healthcare, a clinically governed ecosystem designed not as a convenience offering, but as an essential complement to traditional general practice. Our purpose is to ensure that when a patient’s regular GP is unavailable, they are not left without care. Instead, they can access timely, affordable, safe medical support that reinforces—not replaces—the ongoing relationship with their usual doctor.

Availability and Affordability: A Combined Imperative

One of the persistent barriers to care in Australia has been cost. When people cannot access their GP after hours, they often face two unpalatable choices: go without care or present to an emergency department, where long waits and inappropriate utilisation strain the entire system.

Medmate was designed to address this by offering low-cost, transparent access to doctors around the clock. Patients can obtain therapy, acute care advice and follow-up for a fraction of the cost of traditional after-hours options. This affordability is crucial—it ensures access is not determined by socioeconomic position, geographic isolation or appointment scarcity.

Availability without affordability is meaningless. Medmate deliberately combines both.

A Digital Extension of Your Regular GP

It is important to say unequivocally:
Medmate is not a replacement for a patient’s usual GP.

Instead, our role is to complement the existing GP relationship by filling the gaps that are created by limited hours, workforce shortages and rising demand.

Patients use Medmate to access care between their regular appointments—whether that means:

• obtaining urgent advice at 11pm

• receiving a timely prescription renewal

• seeking clarification about a new medication

• managing symptoms early to avoid deterioration

• arranging targeted follow-up with their own clinic

This is not fragmentation—it is continuity strengthened through availability.

This hybrid model is exactly what the federal government envisioned with MyMedicare. The entire purpose of MyMedicare is to reinforce long-term relationships between patients and their primary care teams, while allowing digital services to extend and support that continuity.

Medmate is working hand-in-hand with this vision. We see ourselves as a clinical bridge—ensuring that patients receive the right care at the right time, while maintaining the central role of their regular GP in long-term health management.

The Architecture of Continuous, Connected Care

Our platform is built on a straightforward principle:
when a patient needs care, they should have access to it—within minutes, not days.

By combining on-demand telehealth, scheduled clinical pathways and integrated digital prescribing, we have created a system that provides:

• immediate assessment for acute symptoms

• rapid digital prescriptions linked directly to pharmacy fulfilment

• continuity through digitally stored clinical notes

• structured follow-up for chronic or complex conditions

• escalation to emergency services when clinically necessary

This means a patient can be assessed immediately for worsening asthma, arrange a chronic disease review the next day, and receive preventive care guidance the following week—all through a consistent, governed digital framework.

In many respects, this mirrors the continuity of a traditional medical home, but with the responsiveness, reliability and availability required by contemporary life.

Digital Prescribing: One of the Most Transformative Reforms

The federal strategy identifies digital prescribing as a cornerstone of Australia’s digital health infrastructure. Its impact cannot be overstated.

As a medical practitioner, I have seen the dangers of medication delays—pain worsening, infections progressing, chronic conditions destabilising. By integrating prescribing directly with national pharmacy networks and enabling 60-minute delivery, we have removed a longstanding bottleneck in the patient journey.

Digital prescribing is not just a convenience; it is a clinical improvement that reduces risk, enhances safety and supports early intervention. It is the embodiment of the efficiencies highlighted in the government’s report.

A Workforce Built for Modern Medicine

Delivering safe, high-quality care at all hours demands a workforce specifically trained for the task. It is not enough to provide availability—we must provide competence, clinical governance and reliability.

Under the leadership of Cassandra O’Connor and myself, Medmate has assembled a national network of clinicians trained in digital triage, virtual assessment and remote decision-making. They operate within a stringent governance framework, ensuring every consultation meets the standards expected of Australian medical practice.

This aligns directly with the national strategy’s call for a digitally capable clinical workforce.

Reducing System Strain Through Early Access

Availability is not simply about convenience; it is about sustainability.

Many emergency presentations—and the strain they place on our hospital system—occur because patients could not access timely primary care. By providing immediate access to a doctor, Medmate prevents many of these escalations. Early intervention is the simplest, most effective means of reducing pressure on EDs, ambulance services and after-hours clinics.

When care is available, the system works better.

A Future Defined by Availability and Continuity

If the last decade of healthcare reform focused on digitisation, the next decade will focus on availability, affordability and continuity.

Medmate’s model reflects the next stage of evolution: a system in which Australians can access care when they need it, complement that care with their regular GP, and do so in a way that aligns perfectly with the government’s MyMedicare initiative.

For patients, it means reassurance and access.
For clinicians, it means safer decision-making supported by AI and connected systems.
For the health system, it means efficiency, early intervention and reduced pressure.

As a doctor, I know this is the direction healthcare must take.
As an innovator and clinical leader, I am committed to ensuring it does.
And through Medmate, we are demonstrating that the future of care availability, continuity and affordability is not theoretical—it is already here.