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RACGP leadership investigate NT workforce issues
College board members have travelled to Alice Springs to meet with local practitioners and discuss how to address the territory’s GP shortage.
President Adjunct Professor Karen Price and the college’s Faculty Chairs touched down in the red centre on Monday 18 July, ahead of a function celebrating 30 years of the RACGP’s Rural Faculty and a fact-finding with local GPs.
The Northern Territory has the lowest number of full-time equivalent GPs per person in Australia, and with a desire to improve patient health outcomes at the top of the agenda, Professor Price said finding ways to improve access to primary care is a major priority.
‘The GP shortage is an issue right across Australia, and it’s particularly bad … in the Northern Territory,’ she said.
‘Lack of access to general practice care has a very negative impact on people’s lives. Those living in rural and remote communities often have poorer health outcomes compared to people living in cities, including higher rates of chronic disease and more complex health needs.
‘Preventable hospitalisations … are 2.6 times higher for people in very remote areas, 1.8 times higher in remote areas, and 1.3 times higher in outer regional areas.’
According to an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report released earlier this year, the Northern Territory Primary Health Network (PHN) had the second most age-standardised deaths per 100,000 people in 2020, more than two-thirds of which were assessed as ‘premature’.
The same report found that the chance of premature death increases the further remote you are – the median age of death in very remote parts of Australia is 66, more than 16 years younger than people who live in major cities.
‘Improving access to high quality general practice care is essential to improving the health and wellbeing of people in rural and remote communities,’ Professor Price said.
‘This is why the RACGP is continuing to urge the Federal Government to properly fund general practice care and ensure all patients can access the care they need when they need it.
‘It’s time to get serious about health funding reform, because everyone deserves access to high-quality and affordable care, no matter their postcode.’
The RACGP is urging the Government to provide better support for rural communities by implementing measures that encourage and support rural doctors to upskill, which it says will improve access to care.
‘More support for culturally safe healthcare for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people is also critical to close the gap and achieve health equality,’ Professor Price said.
‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience a disease burden 2.3 times that of non-Indigenous people – this is shameful. And we know that culturally inappropriate services and the experience of racism is a key barrier to care for communities, which is why cultural competency training for health practitioners and services is so important.
‘The RACGP fully supports the Uluru Statement of the Heart and Closing the Gap initiatives. We also acknowledge the vital importance of self-determination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people when it comes to closing the gap in health outcomes.
‘We are also urging the Government to invest in longer consultations for complex cases – which would make a real difference for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities, because we know they are more likely to need these consultations due to higher rates of chronic health issues, and multimorbidity which requires more time to care.’
For RACGP Rural Chair Dr Michael Clements, the Alice Springs visit is an opportunity to connect with GPs on the ground and hear their experiences.
‘Nobody understands the challenges of healthcare in the Northern Territory more than those who work on the frontline caring for people in their community every day,’ he said.
‘As Australia’s peak body for general practice, representing four out of five rural GPs, the RACGP is perfectly placed to help tackle the GP workforce crisis by tapping into our members’ unique understanding of general practice care outside of major cities.
‘Australia’s GP shortage has been a worsening issue for years, and there are many factors behind it. The workforce is ageing, and not enough medical graduates are choosing to enter specialist GP training to meet the rising demand for care.’
A recently released Deloitte report forecast a shortfall of 11,392 GPs by 2032, and at the same time predicted that demand for care is expected to increase across Australia by 38%.
According to Dr Clements, the transition of the Australian General Practice Training program back to the RACGP and ACRRM from February 2023 will help to reform Australia’s training system and begin the process of improving the distribution of GPs.
The new training program will be nationally managed and supported, and locally delivered.
‘Some communities are disproportionately affected by a critical lack of GPs, particularly rural and regional communities, and some on urban fringes,’ he said.
‘Research shows GPs who do their training in a rural community, and get a taste of rural practice and life, often stay on living and working there.
‘With the transition of GP training, we will ramp up promotion of a career in rural and remote general practice to medical students and junior doctors.
‘However, boosting the number of medical students choosing to specialise in general practice requires action on multiple fronts.
‘The Government must invest in our future GP workforce by boosting funding for general practice care to make it a more viable and appealing career choice. This is crucial if we are to ensure everyone in Australia has access to world class general practice care well into the future.’
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