Mental HealthRural Communities Should Benefit From Budget Health Boost
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) National Rural Faculty has welcomed the increased funding for some existing programs and funding for new programs announced in this week"s federal budget. These increases in funding are welcome given the difficult economic climate in which this budget has been delivered.
"Some of the measures announced on Tuesday night will deliver benefits for patients in our rural communities and boost the health workforce that cares for them," said Dr Kathy Kirkpatrick, Chair, RACGP National Rural Faculty and GP from the Darling Downs in Queensland.
"However, there is a perception in rural communities that there is a longstanding shortfall in funding that would support improved health outcomes for people living in rural and regional Australia. We hoped this budget would provide further incentives for general practice nurses and multidisciplinary teams to augment primary care in Australia, but this did not eventuate.
"We do welcome initiatives including increases in rural infrastructure grants and support for locums, relocation incentives and training incentives including procedural training.
"Also positive are increases in Medicare payments for obstetric care and additional funding for various Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander health initiatives.
"We believe that the enhancements around support and training for locum relief will have a positive impact on the retention of rural GPs. The extension of the Training for Rural and Remote Procedural GPs program is a positive example of utilising existing and well evaluated res.
"The Rural GP Locum program proposed in the budget will provide a mechanism to support and maintain the existing rural general practice workforce until new graduates enter the workforce. However, as pointed out in the budget documents, the challenge has always been to find suitable locums.
"We thank the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing for listening to the concerns of rural doctors regarding the Rural GP Locum scheme and the extension of the Training for Rural and Remote Procedural GPs program. Changes that allow urban based GPs to access emergency medicine training in exchange for making themselves available to undertake locum relief in rural communities and the GP Anaesthetist Locum Scheme (as well as the existing GP Obstetrician Locum Scheme) are welcome initiatives that will support procedural and non procedural rural doctors.
"The new General Practice Rural Incentives Program will provide relocation and retention incentive payments for general practitioners in rural areas, with incentives varying according to both remoteness and time spent working in the bush. We support changes to the HECS Reimbursement Scheme to give doctors faster reimbursement of their HECS bill with increasing remoteness. In general, we support increased investment with increased remoteness.
"We also cautiously welcome the replacement of RRMA classification system, which is long over due. The Australian Standard Geographical Classification will need to be analysed for deficiencies and potential disadvantage for rural populations.
"Announced increases in training places for general practice registrars to 812 will help to boost the general practice workforce. However, this announcement falls well short of the projected requirements for provision of primary care in Australia, which is 1500 places by 2015. The increase in funding for the Prevocational General Practice Placements Program (PGPPP) represents a boost in support for another program with proven outcomes for general practice recruitment.
"However, increased training places can only translate into retained rural workforce if there is adequate investment in general practice infrastructure and in support for supervisors and mentors; we need somewhere and someone to teach our registrars, young doctors and students. It is unfortunate that this budget has not delivered in these areas.
"Undergraduate, PGPPP and vocational training experiences in rural communities must be educationally valuable and enjoyable in order to encourage these doctors, nurses and allied health professionals to return to work in the country. Lifestyle and family needs are key determinants of rural health workforce retention.
"The NRF welcomes the announcement of a new medical school in the Northern Territory and look forward to seeing more detail on this in the future," said Dr Kirkpatrick.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners