Heart of Australia founder and CEO, Dr Rolf Gomes, offered some down-to-earth insights for improvements to the health and well-being of Queenslanders – over the next three decades – at a meeting (September 15) of state-appointed “ambassadors” for an official program known as The Queensland Plan.

Dr Gomes accepted an invitation to join a Brisbane meeting of members of a State-sponsored “Ambassador’s Council” working on a 30-year program that comes under The Queensland Plan banner.

It’s a broad program aimed at realising, by 2044, business growth, community lifestyle and government services improvements anchored on ideas and proposals from the Queensland community.

Three years since its start, Plan developers are turning their focus to “health and well-being” for the state and Dr Gomes spoke to the meeting of the challenges involved in getting specialist health professionals into rural and remote communities on reliable, continuing visit schedules.

He also described the “void” faced by bush Queenslanders in accessing specialist medicine without days-long drives to major centres and uncertainty about being away from family and work.

Also, he emphasised that his now-internationally-recognised Heart of Australia program does not duplicate government-run public health services.