- The Crisafulli Government is delivering a GP eConsultant service providing faster specialist advice closer to home, for rural and regional Queensland.
- The Mater eConsultant partnership supports GPs to access specialist advice for their patients locally, with many avoiding unnecessary referrals and long-distance travel.
- Mater specialists have supported more than 250 regional and rural GPs to provide specialist advice sooner to more than 1000 patients.
- The Crisafulli Government is delivering health services when you need them after decade of decline under Labor.
The Crisafulli Government is making it easier for patients to receive medical specialist advice closer to home, delivering on its election promise to introduce a GP eConsultant service that strengthens healthcare access in rural and regional communities.
The partnership with Mater delivers health services when Queenslanders need them, and provides rural and regional GPs access to advice, via a secure platform, allowing them to request specialist input across a growing list of specialties including adolescent and young adult medicine, cardiology and dermatology.
Since commencing in October 2025, Mater specialists have supported more than 250 regional and rural GPs to provide expert advice, with more than 1,000 Queensland patients receiving specialist advice sooner. Importantly, almost 92 per cent of patients avoided the need for a face-to-face specialist appointment when the Mater eConsultant service was used.
The Crisafulli Government's $6.4 million investment, including $2.13 million in 2026-27, will expand the service across the state, helping more Queenslanders access specialist expertise sooner and reducing unnecessary referrals to outpatient waitlists or long-distance travel to major centres.
The service fulfills an important election commitment made by the Crisafulli Government after a decade of Labor decline left regional and rural Queenslanders without adequate access to specialist medical advice.
The Mater eConsultant partnership is just one of the ways the Crisafulli Government is bridging gaps in primary healthcare in the regions, including:
- Rolling out the $6.8 million Single Employer Model pilot to improve the distribution of GPs across rural and remote Queensland.
- Enabling GPs to diagnose and treat adults with ADHD using psychostimulant medication - an Australian first.
- Abolishing Labor's Patient Tax within the first month of government.
- Delivering the $24 million 2025 Queensland GP Trainee Incentive, while trainee GPs awaited Commonwealth incentives scheduled for 2026.
Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Tim Nicholls said the Crisafulli Government was strengthening healthcare in rural and regional Queensland and delivering health services when Queenslanders need them.
"Too many regional communities were left without timely access to specialist care, during a decade of decline under Labor," Minister Nicholls said.
"The Mater eConsultant service is delivering on our commitment to improve access to specialist advice, reducing outpatient referrals and ensuring more Queenslanders can receive care in their own communities."
Mater Research Executive Director Professor Allison Pettit said the ongoing partnership with the Queensland Government was essential to delivering innovative, sustainable healthcare solutions across Queensland.
"Strong partnerships between healthcare providers and government are critical to meeting the rising demand for complex care," Prof Pettit said. "This investment ensures that funding is directed where it has the greatest impact on patient outcomes."
