4.7 Global megatrends impacting healthcare - implications for rural and remote
Tracks
Botanical 3 room
| Thursday, October 23, 2025 |
| 1:10 PM - 1:40 PM |
| Botanical 3 room |
Details
Non-academic verbal presentation (60-minute)
Speaker
Adj A/Prof Shannon Nott
Chief Medical Officer
Royal Flying Doctor Service (South Eastern)
Global megatrends impacting healthcare - implications for rural and remote
1:10 PM - 2:15 PMAbstract Overview
The global healthcare landscape is undergoing transformative shifts driven by interconnected megatrends that present both challenges and opportunities in health. This presentation explores the forces influencing healthcare, drawing on global foresight work to examine the implications for rural and remote Australia.
Key megatrends for discussion:
-Digital Advancement: The rapid expansion of digital health tools, data-driven decision-making, and AI is transforming healthcare. Disparities in digital infrastructure and access remain a risk for rural and remote communities.
-Demographic and Epidemiological Change: Ageing populations, shifting disease burdens, and increasing cultural diversity require more integrated, personalised, and community-centered models of care.
-Climate and Environmental Disruption: Climate change is increasingly affecting population health and health system resilience, with rural communities more vulnerable to extreme events and ecological shifts.
-Changing Workforce: Global shortages and shifting workforce expectations necessitate new models of training, workforce design, and care delivery—particularly to attract, retain, and support rural clinicians.
-Rising Consumer Expectations: Patients are demanding more autonomy, transparency, and equity in their care. Meeting these expectations in rural settings requires targeted innovation and investment.
This session will examine how rural health systems can adapt to these megatrends, seize emerging opportunities, and build more resilient, inclusive, and future-focused models of care.
Key megatrends for discussion:
-Digital Advancement: The rapid expansion of digital health tools, data-driven decision-making, and AI is transforming healthcare. Disparities in digital infrastructure and access remain a risk for rural and remote communities.
-Demographic and Epidemiological Change: Ageing populations, shifting disease burdens, and increasing cultural diversity require more integrated, personalised, and community-centered models of care.
-Climate and Environmental Disruption: Climate change is increasingly affecting population health and health system resilience, with rural communities more vulnerable to extreme events and ecological shifts.
-Changing Workforce: Global shortages and shifting workforce expectations necessitate new models of training, workforce design, and care delivery—particularly to attract, retain, and support rural clinicians.
-Rising Consumer Expectations: Patients are demanding more autonomy, transparency, and equity in their care. Meeting these expectations in rural settings requires targeted innovation and investment.
This session will examine how rural health systems can adapt to these megatrends, seize emerging opportunities, and build more resilient, inclusive, and future-focused models of care.
Biography
Shannon Nott is an experienced Rural Generalist, health executive, and recognised leader in digital health, virtual care, and rural health system innovation. He is Chief Medical Officer for the Royal Flying Doctor Service (South Eastern Section), a Non-Executive Director of ACRRM, and Medical Advisor to the NSW Rural Doctors Network.
Clinically, Shannon works as a VMO in anaesthesia and continues to practise in pre-hospital medicine, remote health, and rural generalist care. He also holds multiple Adjunct Associate Professor roles across the university sector in rural health, digital health, and future health systems.
Shannon has led the development of nationally recognised virtual care models and served as Clinical Director of the Virtual Care Accelerator for NSW Health, leading the state’s virtual care response during COVID-19. He advises government and health services on digital health strategy and was listed on the inaugural Roster of Digital Health Experts with the World Health Organization.
