Telstra Health has officially gone live with its ReadyCare telemedicine service, offering phone and video consultations with GPs 24 hours a day from a purpose-built facility in Sydney's Alexandria.

A joint venture between Telstra Health and Swiss telemedicine provider Medgate, ReadyCare is initially being targeted at the business-to-business market including health funds, mining companies, state governments and corporates.

It has signed its first big contract with travel insurance and medical assistance firm Cover-More, which insures 1.8 million travellers every year and handles 35,000 medical episodes. From next month, Cover-More will offer its customers the ability to call an Australian doctor 24/7 for medical assistance wherever they are in the world.