Policy Analysis of the Virtual Hospital Model: A Case Study of Sydney Local Health District Virtual Hospital

The aim of this research was to develop a policy analysis of the VH model in collaboration with the Sydney Local Health District Virtual Hospital (Sydney Virtual), in Australia. This research study is part of the doctoral thesis of Enrico Gallo, Visiting PhD Candidate at The University of Sydney from March to December 2025 and PhD Candidate at the University of Milan-Bicocca. The title of his thesis is "New technologies and organisational processes in healthcare: towards a virtual hospital", and its broader aim is to understand the funding mechanisms, benefits and challenges associated with this model, as well as the reliability and security of data protection and business continuity systems and processes. The main objective of the research was to analyse the implementation and management of virtual care services at Sydney Virtual to create a model that can be applied in other contexts. The study will focus on the management process and the methods used to overcome organisational and technical challenges that arose during the implementation of the services. Research Question: How did Sydney Virtual overcome the barriers to implementing a virtual hospital? Which organisational and technical procedures can be extracted from the experience of establishing Sydney Virtual to inform a policy framework?