News
Rural Health Inequitable For GPs And Patients |
| Spokesperson: | Australian General Practice Network (AGPN) |
| Date: | Wednesday, 2 May 2007 |
| Category: | National Health News |
| The health system in rural and regional Australia is inequitable for patients and GPs according to the Australian General Practice Network (AGPN). AGPN Chair Dr Tony Hobbs (a rural GP in the NSW town of Cootamundra) said the significant deficiencies in health services for rural Australians can no longer be justified nor can the additional work loads for the already strained medical workforce. “There is little doubt that patient outcomes in rural and regional areas are worse than that of their urban counterparts. “The Deputy Prime Minister the Hon Mark Vaile recently stated patients in rural areas who are diagnosed with cervical or prostate cancer are more likely to die than their urban counterparts. This is clearly not acceptable. “Rural Australia is doing it tough. The drought has caused significant reductions in income which has exacerbated many health issues such as depression,” Dr Hobbs said. A study released earlier this week by the Chronic Illness Alliance indicated rural and regional Australians with chronic illnesses were spending almost a third of their household budget on medication and 40 per cent of these people were living below the poverty line. “Along with the lack of doctors these pressures are taking their toll on rural and regional Australia. “What we need is a greater focus on primary health care. We need to turn our focus to team based care and more effectively utilise the appropriate skills of the available health care professionals- essentially using the limited workforce more productively. “For this approach to work in rural Australia what is needed is significant amounts of investment in medical infrastructure. We need practices to be able to house students, nurses and allied health professionals,” Dr Hobbs said. AGPN in its budget submission called on the Federal Government to support a national practice infrastructure grants scheme that offers: incentives to encourage amalgamation between GP practices incentives to encourage various models of co-location or collaboration between general practices and allied health providers infrastructure grants to practices to allow expansion to house the expanded practice team including practice nurses. For more information or interviews please phone AGPN CEO Kate Carnell on 0415 662 266 |
|