The Northern Australian Regional Digital Health Collaborative (NARDHC) was funded by the Commonwealth Department of Education, Skills and Employment. NARDHC is led by James Cook University, in partnership with The Tropical Australian Academic Health Centre; Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia; Optus; CSIRO’s e-Health Research Centre and the Northern Queensland Primary Health Network.
The purpose of the Collaborative was to explore digital technology solutions and applications to address healthcare delivery challenges in regional, rural and remote communities in Northern Australia.
The evaluation was designed to ensure that each of the Collaborative’s Activity Areas were assessed or considered individually against the four identified evaluation domains as well as the Collaborative as a whole. The evaluation objectives were to:
The evaluation adopted a mixed-method approach to data collection, comprising quantitative and qualitative elements, including progress monitoring and reporting tools.
The evaluation found that NARDHC has been largely successful, within the scope of its funding and intended activity areas to explore digital technology solutions and applications to address healthcare delivery challenges in regioanl and remote communities in Northern Australia.
The effectiveness of NARDHC has been in fostering partnerships, bridging the gap between technology and clinicians, and supporting services in Northern Queensland to develop, pilot and adopt digital health initiatives.
Thank you, HealthQ, for preparing such a comprehensive evaluation report. We really enjoyed reading it, and the feedback from your interviews and surveys with members and partners was particularly valuable. There’s a lot of good advice in there for us to take on board as we move forward.
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