New Hedland telehealth service targets female sexual and reproductive health

A new women’s telehealth service has launched in Hedland, specialising in female and reproductive health to address consistent specialist healthcare issues in regional WA.

Hedland Well Women’s Centre partnered with Luma for Her Health and Wellbeing and BHP to aid women’s health concerns such as contraception, STI testing, hormone issues, endometriosis, PCOS, fertility, menstrual concerns, sexual health, perimenopause and menopause.

Hedland Well Women’s Centre CEO Kianna Barker said the process included a free, pre-screening appointment in-person with a Well Women’s Centre nurse to assess eligibility, followed by a telehealth appointment with a GP in Perth.

“The initial pre-screening is free, but there is a fee attached to any of the appointments with the GP, but there are Medicare rebates available for those with an eligible Medicare card or concession card,” she said.

“We know it’s a challenge to access services in regional areas and we know that access to services allows opportunities for greater prevention and earlier detection for timely diagnosis.

“Women are often carers of others and they might not prioritise their own health needs, so this is about increasing access and ease of availability of services locally.

“Hopefully, this service will also mean reduced travel, wait times and costs for other local services by filtering through and the availability of an affordable service locally.”