North West Hospital and Health Service (HHS) has been recognised at the 2026 Department of Health Awards for Excellence, taking home an award for ‘Ideas into Actions’ for its innovative Paramedic: Remote Hospital model.
Born out of a need to think differently about how healthcare is delivered in some of Queensland’s most remote communities, the model challenges the traditional view of where and how paramedics can work.
Paramedics are often associated with emergency response and providing care from the back of an ambulance. The North West model takes the versatile clinical skillset of an experienced paramedic and embeds it within a remote hospital and primary healthcare team.
Piloted in Camooweal, the model demonstrated how paramedics can work alongside doctors, nurses and other health professionals to contribute not only to emergency care, but also primary healthcare, chronic disease management, health promotion and broader community care.
Importantly, the role is directly employed by North West HHS and forms part of the hospital-based multidisciplinary team. It does not replace doctors, nurses or Queensland Ambulance Service paramedics; instead, it adds another skilled clinician to the team and makes better use of the broad capabilities paramedics can bring to remote healthcare.
For small communities where workforce availability can fluctuate and access to care can be shaped by distance, traditional workforce models do not always provide all the answers. The Paramedic Remote Hospital model is an example of designing a workforce around the needs of the community, rather than simply applying a metropolitan model in a remote setting.
Following the success of the Camooweal pilot, the model has progressed from an innovative idea to a sustainable workforce approach, with recruitment underway for a dedicated Paramedic Remote Hospital position.
The Ideas into Actions award recognises exactly that journey: identifying a challenge, trying something different, demonstrating that it can work safely and effectively, and turning innovation into a practical model of care for rural and remote Queensland.