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Working for our community.Health News
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Remote
Doctors
Needed
17.5.07
The Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) has welcomed the AMAís support of key initiatives to get and keep more doctors in remote Australia and improve access to rural healthcare.
But it has urged the AMA to go one step further and publicly support the introduction through Medicare of rural-specific fee for service items that would more adequately compensate rural doctors for the isolation and complexity of working in rural and remote practice, saying these items are ìthe major ingredientî in getting more doctors to the bush.
RDAA immediate past-President, Dr Ross Maxwell, said: ìRDAA has been highlighting the lack of access to local health services in rural and remote Australia, and the need to get more doctors to the bush, since RDAA was formed in 1991 and, before that, through the state and territory Rural Doctors Associations.
ìWe estimate that at least 900 more doctors currently are needed to ensure even basic medical coverage in rural and remote Australia.
ìGovernmentsóparticularly the Federal Governmentóhave implemented some useful measures in response to RDAA's consistent advocacy, but ensuring more adequate remuneration for rural doctors has not been tackled and remains the major measure required to really give a boost to rural doctor numbers,î he said.
Accessing local health services continues to be extremely difficult in many rural communities and rural doctors are being stretched to the limits in providing care for their communities.
ìThere are many cases where rural doctors are working more than 21 days in a row where they are on-call 24 hours a day 7 days a week, without any respite.
ìAt the same time, many hospitals and health facilities in rural communities are being closed or downgraded, with rural patients being forced to travel to major centres for even basic healthcare and to give birth,î Dr Maxwell said.
ìNot only are rural doctors under immense, ongoing pressure due to a lack of resources, but when you consider that rural patients are more likely to have much poorer health to begin with, you have a recipe for an unprecedented healthcare disaster in the bush.
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