What do telehealth GPs actually see? The NewDoc case mix
Quick answer
Across 11,029 classified NewDoc consults (1 June to 12 July 2026), 67.4% sought care for a clinical problem and 32.6% were service-only transactions such as renewals or certificates. The biggest clinical categories, counting only consults where care was sought, were respiratory and ENT (22.5%, winter-inflated), mental health (8.8%) and skin (5.3%), spread across 18 categories in total. This is real general practice breadth, minus the procedures.
Where the data comes from
NewDoc patients complete a structured pre-consult before their appointment. For the winter window of 1 June to 12 July 2026, 11,029 of 13,822 booked appointments (79.8%) had a completed pre-consult summary, and each one was classified against a fixed taxonomy of 18 categories and around 80 subcategories. Shares below follow the same purpose-first rule as our published research: a consult counts toward a clinical category only when the patient wanted the problem assessed or treated, and consults that exist to produce a document or renewal are reported as service-only, even where a condition is named. April 2026 comparators cited on this page are the purpose-first figures published in our State of Online GP report (n=3,284).
Two honest caveats. June to July is peak winter, so respiratory care is seasonally inflated (22.5% of consults, against 13.9% in the April report); reading the two seasons together gives the fairest year-round view. And the 20.2% of bookings without a completed pre-consult are absent from the mix.
The case mix, purpose-first
| Share of all consults | Winter 2026 |
|---|---|
| Service-only consults (documents, renewals, admin) | 32.6% |
| Respiratory & ENT | 22.5% |
| Mental health | 8.8% |
| Skin & dermatology | 5.3% |
| Musculoskeletal & injury | 5.3% |
| Gastrointestinal | 4.7% |
| Genitourinary | 4.5% |
| Women's health | 3.6% |
| Neurological | 2.9% |
| Other / unclassified | 2.6% |
| Infectious & general illness | 2.3% |
| Endocrine & metabolic | 1.3% |
| Dental & oral | 1.0% |
| Eye / vision | 0.8% |
| Sleep & fatigue | 0.7% |
| Documentation & admin (clinical component) | 0.5% |
| Cardiovascular | 0.3% |
| Preventive & routine | 0.2% |
| Allergy & immunology | 0.1% |
Clinical rows count only consults seeking care for that problem, so the table sums to 100% with the service row and nothing is double-counted. Eighteen clinical categories with meaningful volume across eight of them is the point: telehealth general practice is general. No single-condition vertical, no cannabis clinic, no certificate mill dominating the day.
The ten most common presenting topics
A different, equally honest axis: what patients name when booking, whether or not they want it treated. The care-seeking column is what separates a flu assessment from a flu certificate.
| Topic named at booking | Share | Sought care for it |
|---|---|---|
| Cold, flu, viral illness or COVID | 13.5% | 68.5% |
| Prescription renewal (no condition detail given) | 5.6% | 0.8% |
| Sore throat or tonsillitis | 4.8% | 92.4% |
| Medical certificate request (no illness detail) | 4.2% | 1.7% |
| Depression or low mood | 3.8% | 56.6% |
| UTI or urinary symptoms | 3.1% | 97.1% |
| Cough, isolated or persistent | 3.0% | 93.6% |
| Other general concern | 3.0% | 52.1% |
| Diarrhoea, gastroenteritis or food poisoning | 2.8% | 81.7% |
| Fever or generally unwell, non-specific | 2.7% | 70.3% |
Sore throats (92.4%), UTIs (97.1%) and coughs (93.6%) are genuine clinical assessments; prescription renewals (0.8%) and certificate requests (1.7%) are honest service work. Both belong in the day, and the overall split between them is roughly two thirds clinical, one third service.
The service layer, stated plainly
Service transactions also attach to clinical consults: 22.4% of all consults involve a medical certificate somewhere in the encounter, 17.6% a prescription, 4.6% a specialist referral, 4.4% a test request and 1.4% a care plan. A flu assessment that ends with a certificate counts as clinical care in the tables above; these attachment rates are the extra paperwork reality on top. For a GP the practical read is that service work is a predictable, efficient fraction of the day, not the whole of it.
What this means if you are weighing up the work
The mix rewards broad general practice skills: undifferentiated viral illness, mental health, skin, gut and urinary presentations all appear daily, and escalation judgement matters (coughs and non-specific fever carry real escalation-risk decisions). If you want procedures or hands-on examination, telehealth is the wrong sole setting, and our honest pros and cons guide covers that trade-off directly. What the pay looks like for this mix is in the pay rates guide.
Frequently asked questions
Is telehealth GP work just scripts and medical certificates?
No, and the data is public here: 67.4% of NewDoc presentations in winter 2026 sought care for a clinical problem, against 32.6% service-only transactions such as a renewal or certificate with no assessment sought. Service consults are real and efficient work, but two thirds of the day is clinical assessment across 18 presentation categories.
How much mental health work does a telehealth GP see?
Under the purpose-first method, mental health care was 8.8% of all NewDoc consults in the winter 2026 window, against 7.7% in the published April 2026 report: consistently the second largest clinical category. Depression, low mood, anxiety and panic are the leading presentations.
Is the case mix all coughs and colds in winter?
Winter inflates respiratory work but does not dominate the day: respiratory and ENT care was 22.5% of consults in the June to July window, against 13.9% in the published April report. Even at winter peak, more than three quarters of consults are something other than respiratory illness.
How was this data classified?
Every appointment with a completed pre-consult summary (11,029 of 13,822 appointments, 79.8%, 1 June to 12 July 2026) was classified against a fixed 18-category taxonomy of around 80 subcategories. Clinical category shares use purpose-first precedence: a consult counts toward a clinical category only when the patient wanted the problem assessed or treated, and service-only consults (documents, renewals) are reported separately, never inside clinical categories. The 20.2% of bookings without a pre-consult summary are not in the mix.
What is not in a telehealth GP's case mix?
Anything needing hands-on examination or procedures is referred to in-person care, and NewDoc is not a niche clinic: there is no medicinal cannabis prescribing and no single-condition vertical. The mix above is what an ordinary general practice day looks like, minus the procedures.
Sources
- State of Online GP in Australia 2026 (April purpose-first baseline), NewDoc (first-party data report)
- Telehealth GP role: pay, hours and requirements, NewDoc
Winter figures derive from NewDoc's internal classification of 11,029 pre-consult summaries (1 June to 12 July 2026), aggregate and de-identified; no individual patient information is published. Clinical category shares use purpose-first precedence, matching the published April methodology; April comparators are the published report's figures. Percentages describe NewDoc's mix and may not generalise to other platforms. Figures are refreshed when the classification is re-run.
Published by NewDoc. Last updated 9 August 2026.