After-hours Telehealth - is there a positive spin for GP training?

Electoral promises have a tendency to spark passionate debate - but golly, where do we start when so much has been "promised" for the primary care sector in this federal election?!

Let's stop and think for a moment about After-Hours Telehealth.

If I wasn't working in this sector I might think this was without any negatives whatsoever, or would I?

I have a list of comorbidities a mile long to manage. I'm on 5 types of medication. So yes, I really like the thought of a late night chat with my GP when my mind is clear and it's perfectly convenient for me... But that one little word "my" is what can't be accommodated by after-hours telehealth services. All of a sudden something I first saw as convenient has a whole lot of complexity added to it. And I as a health consumer (and tax payer) will potentially be the loser.

Let's imagine the GPSA community had a voice at some really important tables (which we do) and let's imagine your individual opinion was something GPSA could give voice to (which it is): how important an issue is the fragmentation of healthcare for the future of general practice - and is this only tangential to GP training, or something we should be protecting at all costs for the benefit of GPiTs?