Will innovations in e-Health live up to their extraordinary promise? It has been touted as a mechanism to dissolve physical distance, bring the knowledge of the specialist into rural surgeries, remote health clinics and multipurpose services, and enable secure exchange of vital medical information.  Robots in district hospitals, data vaults of important health information for transient populations, remote specialist consults through email and videoconferencing are all a reality.  In many cases good care is reaching people who in the past had to do without.

But it is time to take stock.  What works in rural and remote settings?  What are the barriers to greater adoption? What technological advances are around the corner and what should we be doing now?  What should be our priorities?

On 18 and 19 May there will be a Rural e-Health Forum in Geraldton.  This is your chance to talk with clinicians who are using new technologies, with the inventors designing the next big thing, with the industry and with policy makers.  The Forum is jointly organised by CUCRH, the Midwest Division of General Practice and the Centre of Excellence in e-Medicine.

Let us know that you plan to attend.  Send the attached form, circulate the flier and keep an eye on the forum website