AMA welcomes election focus on rural health
The AMA has said election promises to inject $146m in new funding into rural health, announced this week by both major political parties, marks a welcome shift in the election campaign, with the health needs of rural Australians having received little attention so far.
AMA President Dr Omar Khorshid said the Coalition had released of a suite of practical policies to bolster the rural health workforce, which the Labor Party has said it will match.
Dr Khorshid said the AMA has been calling for a strong investment in the rural medical workforce and he many of the initiatives announced were in areas strongly advocated for by the AMA.
Dr Khorshid said the $146m spend offered by both parties, will build on earlier Budget commitments, and further supported strategies to get more doctors into locations where they were most needed. “We welcome the focus on bolstering the rural health workforce, with shortages remaining the number one issue facing many rural communities around the country. Extra funding for workforce incentives and additional training places are badly needed to ensure rural patients have access to services,” Dr Khorshid said.
The AMA Council of Rural Doctors have released the results of the 2022 AMA Rural Health Issues Survey. The Survey results reflecting the feedback of 473 rural doctors highlights the need for investment to address medical workforce shortages in rural, regional and remote Australia.
The AMA will continue advocating for:
-
The expansion of the Commonwealth Government’s Specialist Training Program (STP) to 1700 places over the next term, giving priority to rural areas, generalist training and specialties that are under-supplied;
-
Investment in regional teaching hospitals to ensure they have sufficient capacity to host STP-funded non-GP specialist registrars;
-
Implement the National Rural Generalist Pathway nationally, and a commitment to ongoing funding;
-
Encouragement of end-to-end rural medical training programs, with a view to ensuring they provide positive rural exposure and lead to retention of rural medical practitioners;
-
Expansion of capacity for remote learning (training and educational opportunities, especially for trainees in regional/rural sites, and potential remote supervision); and
-
Promotion of regional training and research teaching hospital hubs to grow non-GP specialist capacity outside metropolitan areas.
Dr Khorshid said both major parties were yet to commit to major and necessary reforms to modernise Medicare for general practice and deliver better hospital services. The report and further information can be found here.
