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GPs and other health specialists in the region are set to start conducting follow-up consultations with patients remotely, as part of the Western Local Health District's plan to localise health services and to decrease patients' need to travel over the next three years.

"We know that the impact on patients and their families is really significant when they have to travel away from their home town," Western Local Health District Chief Executive Scott McLachlan said.

Fifty patients in NSW with an average age of 87, suffering serious heart or lung conditions requiring regular hospital stays, were chosen for the six-month trial last year.

Each was given a ''medibox'' linked to the broadband network so they could regularly type in details of their blood pressure, heart rate, blood oxygen and weight. Any change in condition was spotted by a doctor earlier than through less-frequent visits to a GP, the trial found, allowing for the quicker introduction of preventative treatment.

A $20.6 million pilot program starting in July will use the national broadband network to deliver telehealth services to older Australians, cancer patients and those in palliative care.

Groups can apply for grants, typically of between $1 million and $3 million, to conduct two-year trials in telehealth services for patients, particularly in regional and rural areas.

"The legislation will strike the right balance between security and access," Ms Roxon said in a statement.

"Two rounds of consultation were held on this legislation prior to its introduction."

The Federal Government’s telehealth initiative may not have achieved its intended goal, but LifeSize A/NZ country manager, Gerry Forsythe, said that is finally changing.

“With no real guidelines behind it, the one-off incentive payment of $6000 was not really taken on properly, though it is coming together now,” he said.

A program to save rural and remote renal dialysis patients unnecessary travel through the use of telehealth technology has been recognised as the best in the state at the 2017 Queensland Health and Department of Health Awards for Excellence.

The Queensland Health Regional, Rural and Remote Award for Outstanding Achievement was presented to representatives from Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service Renal Services at a gala awards event in Brisbane on Tuesday night.

The Telehealth Centre at Princess Alexandra Hospital opened last week as part of a $5.1 million online outreach services project to help bridge the gap in health care in rural areas such as Mount Isa.

The facility is designed to link the hospital with towns such as Mount Isa and Cloncurry to provide patient consultations via video link, allowing for at least 5000 assessments annually.

From Alpha in central west Queensland, Health Minister Lawrence Springborg announced to media in Kedron the seven evaluation sites for the expansion of the telehealth service, with the Central West Hospital and Health Board dialling in from Boulia.

Working towards reducing travel, time and expenses for patients in Central Highlands, Dr Ewen McPhee has adopted telehealth video conferencing technology, which allows consultations to be held with specialists across the state.

The Queensland Government has added seven regional sites, including Bedourie, to its telehealth network which will allow doctors to connect to specialists in the city.

Bruce Scott says Bedourie is not connected by optic fibre cables.

This is the type of medical service being offered with technology developed on the Gold Coast.

The brainchild of Dr Ramana Panda, Telehealth Networks promises to deliver vastly improved access to medical care for patients in remote and regional Australia.

In the Health Minister's lexicon is ending wasteful and unnecessary spending, and ensuring that the systems needed to run the mega-department actually work.

He says much of that waste has been caused by the centralisation of the health system, and a preoccupation with an ever growing bureaucracy that has come at the expense of patient care.

The Rural Telehealth Service, which started in February last year, has been connecting patients in remote areas to doctors in cities via video link.

Eight-year-old Indra was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes three years ago and since then, they've had to regularly travel long distances to see pediatric specialists.

But thankfully Telehealth is changing the face of treatment for people in rural areas.

Medicare will fund video-link hook-ups between medical specialists and patients who would usually have to travel to Mackay.

The aim is to bring rural patients and doctors together regardless of distance.

Dr Michael Williams, consultant paediatrician and director of child and adolescent health at Mackay Base Hospital, said the Federal Government's telehealth initiative was a good thing for both patients and health professionals

The Service – with at-call access to expertise including the best clinicians in the state - will serve small, remote communities where current difficulties in recruiting staff caused a downward spiral in health access and blowouts in health costs.

Health Minister Lawrence Springborg would not reveal where the other four trial sites for the Rural Telehealth Service would be created this year but suggested the other sites would be set through engaging with health boards in those areas.

He said the service would transport remote patients into the most advanced hospitals in the state through technology.

Telehealth project officer Lois Cobon said the Toowoomba Hospital began telehealth about 10 years ago and the service has grown and improved over the past decade.

"Telehealth makes use of video-conferencing technology so that patients from around south-west Queensland can attend their local hospital and have a specialist appointment at Toowoomba Hospital via video-conference.

The new Princess Alexandra Hospital Telehealth centre will soon deal with 5000 consultations a year through the technology which enables doctors to read charts and speak face to face with medical professionals and patients in every corner of the state.

Federal Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy said the "ground-breaking service" was already making a tangible difference to patients across regional Queensland.

The Telehealth Centre at Princess Alexandra Hospital was officially opened yesterday as part of a $5.1 million online outreach services project.

It is designed to link the Brisbane hospital with towns such as Mount Isa, Kingaroy and Dalby to provide patient consultations via video.