Building a digital health future future that connects care

Digital health will fundamentally reshape general practice.

Used well, technology can reduce administrative work, connect information, improve access to expertise and give us more time with patients. Used poorly, it can create new silos, transfer more risk onto practices and weaken the clinical relationships that hold our health system together.

I am optimistic about what digital health can deliver. But innovation must solve real clinical problems, not simply introduce more platforms, portals and obligations for GPs.

As RACGP President, I will pursue three practical outcomes:

• connect clinically useful information around the patient

• give practices clear privacy, cybersecurity and AI guardrails

• use digital health to strengthen local care, particularly in rural and regional communities.

Interoperability is a clinical priority

At HIC2026, hosted by the Australasian Institute of Digital Health, I participated in the plenary panel Health in 2035 Through the Digital Health Lens: What Does the Future Hold?

The discussion brought together perspectives from general practice, aged care, disability, mental health, digital health and health policy. A central theme was clear: healthcare cannot become genuinely connected while important information remains trapped inside separate services and software systems.

I shared a recent experience providing weekend general practice care. Access to hospital discharge information differed depending on where the patient had received care and which systems were available to the clinician.

When information is missing, the GP must reconstruct what happened from the patient, medication packets or incomplete documents, increasing the risk of duplicated investigations, medication uncertainty and delayed follow-up.

Interoperability is not an abstract technology project. It is about patient safety, continuity and ensuring the clinician taking responsibility for the patient has the information needed to do so.

Australia has a National Healthcare Interoperability Plan. Its success must be measured in the consulting room.

GPs should not need to search multiple portals or chase hospital departments to understand what happened to their patient. Relevant information should move securely with the patient, retain its clinical context and make clear who is responsible for what happens next.

As President, I will make interoperability a clinical and patient-safety priority for the RACGP. I will press governments, health services and technology vendors to deliver information that is timely, useful and integrated into clinical workflows, rather than creating another inbox for GPs to manage.

Innovation must work in practice

I do not approach digital health only from a policy perspective.

In my own practice, we have evaluated AI scribes and back-office automation. We are also trialling a camera-based system to detect diabetic retinopathy, helping us provide more comprehensive care within the practice while drawing on the expertise of other specialists.

But adopting technology should never become the objective in itself.

We must ask whether it improves care, reduces workload, supports sound clinical decisions and fits naturally into practice workflows. When it does not, we need to determine whether the problem is the technology, the concept or how it has been implemented.

Technology should support clinical judgement, not displace it, and accountability must never be separated from clinical authority.

I have also served as a judge at the past three RACGP Hackathons, working with the RACGP Digital Health and Innovation Specific Interests Group and technology leaders on practical clinical problems.

Those experiences have reinforced my belief that innovation should begin with clinical need. GPs must be involved before systems are purchased, policies are finalised and new workflows are imposed.

Practices need practical guardrails

Practices are rapidly being asked to assess AI scribes, clinical decision tools, automation platforms and other digital products.

Individual GPs should not have to become privacy lawyers, cybersecurity specialists and AI governance experts simply to determine whether a product is safe.

We need a clear, nationally consistent healthcare-specific framework covering privacy, cybersecurity and AI governance. It must set stronger expectations for vendors and provide practical guidance that practices can understand and apply.

GPs need clear answers about where patient information goes, how it is used, what consent is required, whether outputs can be audited and who carries responsibility when something goes wrong.

As President, I will press for nationally consistent standards and ensure the RACGP develops practical resources that help practices assess new technology with confidence.

The guardrails must protect patients without preventing clinicians from testing and improving useful innovations.

Digital health must strengthen local care

Technology can bring multidisciplinary expertise closer to rural and regional patients, particularly when the right clinician cannot always be physically present.

Remote advice, shared records, digital consultation and diagnostic technology can help patients receive more care closer to home while supporting their local GP.

But digital access must not become an excuse to remove local services.

General practice should not follow the banking industry by closing physical doors and directing everyone to an app, chatbot or distant call centre.

The strongest model will combine technology with trusted local relationships. It will give the patient’s GP better access to information and expertise while keeping care connected to the patient’s community.

Digital health should overcome distance. It should not create new distance between patients and clinicians.

GPs must shape what comes next

Digital health is moving quickly. General practice cannot be brought into the discussion after the major decisions have already been made.

We understand where information is lost, where responsibility becomes blurred and where supposedly efficient systems quietly create more work. We also see the opportunities to provide safer, more accessible and better-connected care.

I understand the technology. I have tested it in practice. I know where the risks and opportunities lie.

As RACGP President, I will ensure GPs do not simply adapt to the digital future. We will help shape it.