Calls for ‘targeted and tailored’ solutions for rural health

In the wake of the Federal Budget’s hand down and rolling election commitments from all sides, the RACGP’s Rural Chair says while any investment into strengthening general practice is welcome, he is concerned rural and remote communities could be left behind.
 
‘The promises have really been on things that have focused on improving primary care in the urban areas,’ Associate Professor Michael Clements told newsGP.
 
‘The things like the bulk-billing incentives, changes and recommendations that really favour high-volume medicine.
 
‘The kind of places that are going to benefit from that are people with higher foot traffic who can get people through the door, so it’s going to favor the urban areas more so than rural.’
 
Associate Professor Clements, who is a GP in Townsville, says although the incentives are layered and go up as a percentage for the rural areas, they work ‘so differently’ so will not make as much of an impact.
 
The RACGP has cautioned the Labor and the Coalition’s plan to expand bulk-billing incentives, saying this model ‘won’t work for every practice’ and is instead pushing for a focus on quality care, financial viability and sustainability of general practice.
 
The college has also come out strongly critical of recent changes to the Distribution Priority Area (DPA) classification, warning they will take GPs away from rural areas and make it harder to recruit new doctors.
 
Certain areas are being prioritised over those that are in more need of workforce boosts, according to Associate Professor Clements, who previously told newsGP that certain changes made to new Modified Monash Model (MMM) classifications will ‘absolutely take doctors that would otherwise have worked in a more remote or rural area into those locations’.
 
He said the DPA changes specifically favour areas near cities.
 
‘The fact that they’ve made the Sunshine and Gold Coast and The Gap a priority area for doctors, it has a direct impact in reducing the flow of doctors to more needful rural areas,’ Associate Professor Clements said.
 
‘It’s a sign that this election is being fought without thinking about the real rural and remote impacts.
 
‘If you ever want to look at where general practice in the cities might be without investment, you just need to look at the rural areas first to see what’s actually happening in terms of lack of access.
 
With the Federal Election set for 3 May, and the two major parties both declaring that general practice and Medicare reform are front and centre, Associate Professor Clements says rural and remote communities ‘really need targeted and tailored solutions’.
 
‘The reality is there are solutions – there’s been pilots that show that with the right investment, with the right teams working on local solutions, we can actually turn around communities and provide really good access to healthcare, which is what our patients deserve,’ he said.
 
From his clinic in regional Queensland, Associate Professor Clements is experiencing the impacts of workforce shortages firsthand.
 
‘It’s exhausting, because certainly when you’re the only doctor, or the only practice, or the only team in a rural area, you don’t feel like you can step out,’ he said.
 
‘You don’t feel like you can take a day off if you’re burning out, your ability to step out for a mental health break just stops.
 
‘I’m worried that if we don’t shift the focus back to our rural communities, have we missed an opportunity for another 40 years?
 
‘That’s what concerns me.’
 
Log in below to join the conversation.
 

distribution priority area federal budget general practice funding rural general practice rural healthcare