Transforming Primary Healthcare Service Delivery

Seeking participation from General Practice clinics and patients

Primary care is a crucial part of the Australian healthcare system. In today’s digital age, GP clinics face challenges in delivering quality care while managing operations and the expectations of staff, clinicians and patients. Digital technology strategy holds the key.

Our overall goal of this project is to determine how to enhance primary healthcare services to be more efficient and person-centred using digital technologies. This approach is known as a Digitaltech-humanness approach.

Digitaltech‑humanness refers to how effectively a clinic balances digital technologies (e.g., booking systems, data tools, telehealth) with human capabilities such as communication, empathy, autonomy and connection. The focus areas of the Digitaltech-humanness approach are patient experience, staff wellbeing and practice performance. Clinics that strengthen Digitaltech‑humanness typically enhance human care through digital systems, improve workflow efficiency while maintaining personal connection, use data meaningfully, involve patients in digital transformation, and support staff capability alongside digital upgrades.

The earlier phases of this work helped us to understand the needs, capabilities and pressures that GP clinics are experiencing across the country and informed the creation of a new clinic improvement tool, the PC‑IMPROVE.

We are now recruiting for the final phase of our research, looking for GP clinic practice managers and other key personnel involved with primary care digital technology adoption across Australia, who will have early access to the innovative resources developed by this project and a chance to contribute to the refinement of the tools.

For more information, read on below or attend our webinar on 12 June 2026.

This research is being conducted with funding from the Australian Research Council, The University of Queensland, the Australian Association of Practice Management (AAPM), the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA) and Inala Primary Care.

What will I need to do?

Managing multiple systems, workflows and team needs can feel overwhelming. so we’ve created a practical planning guide to help clinics bring it all together.

We are now looking for GP clinics to trial our resources and provide feedback.

What's involved

Participation involves completing an online survey about your clinic now and in 16 weeks. Each survey takes approximately 25 minutes to complete.

Participating clinics will receive:

a personalised clinic insights report, highlighting your clinic’s current balance of tech and human connection
early access to a step-by-step transformation guide.

You can use the transformation guide to:

improve workflows and reduce friction
support staff wellbeing and collaboration
strengthen patient experience
identify opportunities for quality improvement activities.

Join the study for your free report and planning guide.

Join the study

We want to understand from your perspective, how to minimise any negative impacts from using digital technology use in GP clinics. We are interested in understanding your experiences of using digital technologies before, during and after a visit with your GP (General Practitioner). Digital technologies include electronic devices, systems, services, data or processes that use digital information in some way to help you communicate, be entertained, work, learn or carry out everyday tasks. Whether you have used many digital technologies with your GP, or you have used very few, your views are valuable to this research.

To participate you must be over 18 years old, be able to communicate in English and have previously used a GP clinic within Australia. Participation involves taking part in an audio-recorded interview lasting about 45 minutes, either online or in person at a time that suits you.

Your participation will benefit all Australians by providing input into the way digital technology is used in GP clinic services and will help people through the digital transformation happening in society.

Registration process

Click on the Enrolment for patients link.

Enrolment for patients

Our Researchers

Professor Janet McColl-Kennedy
Project Lead, Chief Investigator
UQ Business School

Associate Professor Christoph Breidbach
Chief Investigator
UQ Business School

Associate Professor Lisa Hall
Chief Investigator
UQ School of Public Health

Professor Damian Hine
Chief Investigator
Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation

Professor Mohamed Zaki
Partner Investigator
University of Cambridge

Ms Emma Baillie
Research Officer
UQ Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Dr Fiona Willer
Senior Research Assistant

Annissa Hansen
PhD Candidate

headshot of Tracey Johnson Tracey Johnson
CEO Inala Primary Care
Partner Investigator (Industry)

Paresh Dawda
CEO Prestantia Health
Partner Investigator (Industry)

Miranda Grace
CEO Australian Association of Practice Management (AAPM)
Partner Organisation

Ken Griffin
CEO Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA)
Partner Organisation

Our aim

The overarching aim of this project is to co-design and test new tools through a digitaltech-humanness approach, providing a roadmap to enable primary care clinics to simultaneously enhance patient experience and employee wellbeing, resulting in overall clinic performance improvement.

This research is being led by Professor Janet McColl-Kennedy and her team at The University of Queensland Business School with funding from the Australian Research Council (Grant LP210200586), the Australian Association of Practice Management (AAPM), the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA) and Inala Primary Care.

The study’s findings are expected to be of value to primary care practices, policymakers and the broader healthcare community. By uncovering the barriers to embracing digital technology and identifying best practices, the research aims to create a straightforward roadmap for enhancing patient care and optimising clinic operations – whether it’s a one-GP outback clinic or a metropolitan GP Super Clinic.