The specialist clinic, where outpatients are treated, has been moved away from the main hospital building to Frankland Street, where the Northern Integrated Care Service is situated.

From there, urgent face-to-face appointments will be interspersed with telehealth consultations carried out via telephone and video calls.

Coronavirus: All the latest updates on COVID-19 for Tasmania

LGH director of medicine Alasdair MacDonald said the move would ensure that outpatients attending the hospital didn't mix with inpatients.

"We're interspersing ... telehealth appointments in order to space out patients effectively so that the waiting room isn't full of patients waiting to see the doctor," he said.

The spread of coronavirus in the community has led to a reduction in face-to-face consultations at the LGH, as well as the reconfiguration of consultation and waiting rooms to address social distancing requirements.

Dr MacDonald predicted that expanded telehealth offerings would lead to a more permanent arrangement whereby telehealth as a model of care would become more prevalent at the hospital, reducing the need for patients to travel to receive care - particularly those living in rural or remote areas.

"It's always been one of our ambitions to optimally use telehealth to prevent the inconvenience of patient travel," he said. "But this has given us a good reason to take up this technology more quickly."

Health Minister Sarah Courtney said the state's telehealth capability was being "significantly" increased in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic: 20 virtual rooms have been expanded to allow for up to 5000 appointment bookings.

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"This means there will be an unprecedented level of telehealth capacity in our system - enabling up to 500 connections at any one time," she said. "This is a huge achievement for our hard-working staff to have pulled together these services so quickly."

"This is all about increasing our ability to ensure unnecessary visits to hospital are avoided where possible, and to help maintain healthcare for our community while isolating."

Further coronavirus testing clinics will be established in the North, with one to open at the Elphin Sports Centre in Launceston.

Ms Courtney said the new clinics would serve to "prepare our health system to meet the future challenges posed by COVID-19".

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