Healthdirect COVID-19 services helped Aussies through pandemic

It's timely, as the pandemic infrastructure and response scales down, to review the pivotal role that Healthdirect Australia's virtual health services have played in Australia's response to COVID-19 since 2020.

Through helplines, web information, online tools and video call services, we have met the needs of our government funders and consistently provided reliable, evidence-based information and advice across multiple channels to the Australian public.

Looking back, we can see our services played a critical role in the nation's response to the pandemic, which forms a significant and ongoing chapter in Australia's healthcare history.

While COVID-19 is no longer designated a Communicable Disease Incident of National Significance in Australia, we are still experiencing significant transmission and the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing will continue to maintain services with healthdirect that support prevention, reducing transmission, and managing serious illness.

24-hour National Coronavirus Helpline available through peaks and troughs

The Australian Government engaged Healthdirect Australia in January 2020 to set up the National Coronavirus Helpline — the first piece of what would become a significant national response to the global pandemic.

The 24-hour helpline, set up in one week and strengthened over time, met the health information needs of the public. It has been the longest-standing Australian COVID-19 support line. To date, the helpline has answered more than 5 million calls, supporting Australians with current, relevant information about their symptoms, isolation guidelines, prevailing restrictions, vaccination and antiviral criteria, as well as vaccine clinic location details.

Call agents on COVID-19 helplines across the country tapped into a ‘single source of truth’, an online knowledge base managed and maintained by Healthdirect Australia to ensure consistency of information provided to the public and to reduce duplication of efforts by sharing resources across government and health agencies.

Unprecedented audience reach via our digital platforms

Shortly after the nation went into lockdown, Heathdirect Australia launched the Restriction Checker, an online tool through which users could easily locate the latest information on what could and couldn’t be done under the changing rules of every state and territory. The Australian Government included it as a key resource in public information outreach.

By far the most used COVID-19 health tool during the pandemic was the COVID-19 Vaccine Eligibility Checker which evolved to become the Vaccine Clinic Finder and has since merged with the pre-existing healthdirect Service Finder. This translated and well-promoted tool became the main portal for booking a vaccination appointment and was used 53 million times over its lifespan, helping Australians to get vaccinated.

In addition, a single webpage set up in January 2020 grew into a comprehensive hub of COVID health information and advice, viewed 24 million times over four years.

National health infrastructure scaled up to support telehealth

The National Health Services Directory has been the backbone of interoperability during the pandemic, centralising data for COVID-19 clinics, enabling online appointment booking, and facilitating secure messaging to GPs about patients’ eligibility for antiviral treatments.

In March 2020, Healthdirect Australia introduced the Video Call COVID-19 GP program as face-to-face appointments declined due to restrictions. To facilitate patient-doctor interactions without the risks associated with waiting rooms and to safeguard the health of both patients and doctors, the Australian Government invested in the existing Video Call platform, offering it free of charge to general practices. This enabled secure, private and remote clinical consultations. The expansion of video telehealth services was swift and efficient.

Looking to 2024 and beyond, Healthdirect Australia’s tools and systems, whose development was fast-tracked during the pandemic, are now being repurposed, strengthened and improved, contributing to building the health system of the future.