I logged into my healthcare app and answered some questions about Elsie's age, weight, medical history, allergies and symptoms. I uploaded a couple of photos of the rash and waited.

Within half an hour, I was chatting to a doctor who asked a couple of follow-up questions, identified the rash, prescribed a cream and explained to me how to administer it. They told me what to do if it persisted, and how to contact them if I needed further assistance. The details were noted in my daughter's medical records and the prescription was attached to her social security number. Either my husband or I, as her legal guardians, could then collect the cream at any chemist in the country or order it to be delivered to our door by using digital identification apps on our phones. The entire exchange took less than an hour.

I live in Sweden, by the way. Stuck here for most of the pandemic, I just recently managed to get back to Australia for an overdue two-month stay with my parents in Newcastle. From November to January I watched in frustration as the health-care system I once knew and loved in Australia failed my family and I.

The worst experience was when my Grandmother experienced a serious ear infection and had two useless telehealth appointments as she tried to access necessary antibiotics. The first appointment was in the evening. When my Dad tried to pick up the meds for her, the chemist said they had never received the fax (fax?!). Appointment number two was the following morning. "No problem," they said, "it'll be sent through." But it went to the wrong chemist. Eventually, my Dad took her to a physical appointment and got her the medication there and then.

I'm not the only one to have had less than ideal experiences with Australia's telehealth services. Nathalie Levick, of Newcastle, was diagnosed with gestational diabetes during pregnancy and said the care she received through emails and brief phone calls was generalised. She was sent a link to an instructional video on YouTube to learn how to inject insulin.

"I remember being devastated and overwhelmed," Levick says.

The generalised information Levick received led to a "hypo", or a drop in blood sugar caused by too much insulin, and she was given further instructions to adjust her own dosage if readings came back higher than recommended.

Levick paid $200 to see a private endocrinologist, and says: "The in-person reassurance and guidance was worth more than every cent. I would have paid 10 times that for the level of care I received. Telehealth was just very, very impersonal. Maybe if it was used as it is intended with a video chat it would be OK. I've had a couple of doctors' appointments like that and have found it OK."

But it's certainly not all bad news, and when the digital system is well run, it makes accessing healthcare easier, more convenient, cheaper and less risky for people in various circumstances.

Justine Ellis, a psychiatrist working on Sydney's North Shore, thinks telehealth has been a game-changer for providing mental health care. She says people living in rural and regional areas really benefit as they are able to access specialist services that are not available in their area.

She also says, however, that it wasn't unusual to experience technical difficulties including poor internet and phone coverage, as well as older people having issues with connecting to their appointments and navigating links and apps.

Ellis says it works well for teenagers who are very familiar with using technology and for some it is easier to talk than in person. It is also helpful for parents who find it hard to transport children to and from appointments.

She says the system could be improved by being able to integrate other parts of the software package typically used in consultations. It is sometimes more difficult to collect payment than in-person sessions and it's harder to establish a good rapport with patients.

Julie-Ann Pflueger, of Newcastle, says telehealth was a good safety measure during COVID and it saved her the cost of petrol in travelling to and from the doctor to get prescriptions repeated. She says she had longer, less distracted consultations. But there were disadvantages.

"I have complex prescriptions," she says.

"These had to be sent through to my iPhone. Unfortunately, the pharmacy could not always make up the full batch until they received the hard copy. This meant I was constantly running out of medications and it was very confusing, keeping track of where I was up to with renewing prescriptions."

She says the pharmacy's requirement of a hard copy meant she needed to supplement with face-to-face consultations despite telehealth's availability.

"It did get messy and stressful and I wouldn't do telehealth again unless there is a new strain of COVID or I am unwell," she says, "but it is good to know it exists."

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