Royal Philips has signed a new partnership with Teladoc Health. The partnership is the first of its kind in Australia and New Zealand (NZ) and will deliver comprehensive virtual healthcare solutions across healthcare facilities, enabling virtual care delivery across entire organisations.

Health networks across Australia and New Zealand are experiencing challenges with overburdened emergency departments, ICU capacity, and elective surgery backlogs, leading to long waiting times for people seeking access to healthcare services.

Rising healthcare costs and increased demand for hospital services are accelerating adoption of virtual health programs that can make use of limited specialist resources while improving quality and access to care.

The partnership aims to improve patient access to healthcare services, create increased hospital capacity, improve clinician experience and improve patient health outcomes while reducing the overall cost of care.

By combining their world leading virtual care capabilities, the two companies will work together to offer hospitals and health systems a scalable end-to-end virtual care journey, allowing organisations to leverage scarce clinical resources with remote patient monitoring across health facilities to support patients and clinicians.