The Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) has welcomed a range of initiatives announced today at the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting, saying they will help get and keep more doctors in rural and remote Australia and improve local access to healthcare for those living in the bush.

The initiatives include the following:

• the Commonwealth to provide rural medicine with formal recognition under Medicare as a generalist discipline by April 2007 in order to attract more procedural GPs to rural areas, subject to the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine’s (ACRRM) training program being accredited by the Australian Medical Council.

• COAG agreement that Health Ministers should provide, by the end of this year, options to improve service delivery in rural and remote areas.

• the Commonwealth to introduce a new Medicare item for practice nurses and Aboriginal Health Workers to provide ongoing support for patients with chronic disease for, and on behalf of, general practitioners.

• the Commonwealth to provide an additional 205 medical school places in addition to the 400 new medical school places previously announced. (RDAA awaits advice on the number of new places that will be bonded, and urges that any bonded places are accompanied by incentives such as living allowances and HECS-debt relief for the medical students who hold them).

• a Commonwealth announcement that it will provide capital funding for medical schools at Deakin and Monash Universities; and an offer to provide funding to establish a new medical school at the University of New England—and further capital funding for medical schools at Queensland and James Cook Universities—subject to matching funding from the states.

• the establishment by January 2008 of a system for medical specialist trainees to undertake rotations through an expanded range of settings, which could include regional, rural and ambulatory settings.

• a guarantee by the state and territory governments that they will provide high-quality clinical placements and intern training for Commonwealth-funded medical students, and that they will continue to invest significantly in on-the-job and post-graduate training for health professionals. (RDAA has urged that clinical placements and intern training must also be guaranteed for those medical students who pay full fees or are funded under state schemes to study medicine).

• COAG agreement to establish by December 2006 a national process for the assessment of overseas trained doctors.

• COAG agreement to a National Action Plan on Mental Health involving a joint package of measures.

“RDAA is pleased to see the range of worthwhile initiatives agreed to at today’s COAG meeting” RDAA President, Dr Ross Maxwell said.

“We are particularly pleased to see the Commonwealth confirm that it will formally recognise rural medicine as a generalist discipline under Medicare, subject to the accreditation of ACRRM’s training program. This recognition will boost overnight the appeal of rural medicine for many young doctors and help entice more of them to the bush.

“We are also pleased to see the Commonwealth’s offer of further medical school places and funding for medical schools in various states. However, RDAA awaits advice on the number of new places that will be bonded, and we urge that any bonded places are accompanied by incentives such as living allowances and HECS-debt relief for the medical students who hold them.

“Attaching rural medical scholarships to some of the additional medical places will also make for a much happier cohort of future rural doctors than bonded places ever will. We also urge that many of the new medical places be allocated to rural-origin students and those students who are willing to commit to rural practice.

“The renewed guarantee by the states and territories that they will provide high-quality clinical placements and intern training for Commonwealth-funded medical students is critical. But it is crucial that such placements and training are also guaranteed for those who pay full fees or are funded under state schemes to study medicine.

“Additionally, all of these students must be able to access clinical training in rural areas as well as in the cities, if we are to attract more young doctors to the bush.

“It is also essential that more financial, infrastructure and other supports are urgently provided to the rural doctors, rural medical practices and rural hospitals that provide clinical training and experience for medical students and young graduate doctors, to ensure they can cope with the increased demand for rural clinical placements.

“The new Medicare chronic disease support item is an important one and will assist many rural patients in better accessing local healthcare for chronic disease, given it will enable practice nurses and Aboriginal Health Workers to provide ongoing support for these patients on behalf of their doctors.

“RDAA has been calling for many of these initiatives for some time. We now look forward to continuing to work with governments to further progress these initiatives, to get and keep more doctors in the bush and improve access to local healthcare for those living in rural and remote Australia.”

Source: www.rdaa.com.au