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Doctors welcome rural health plan
16 December 2011
Doctors have welcomed today’s release of the Rural and Regional Health Plan by the Baillieu Government but warned that more needs to be done to attract and retain doctors in rural areas.
“The Plan acknowledges the important role of the rural medical workforce in improving rural health outcomes,” said AMA Victoria President Dr Harry Hemley. “The Government now needs to provide more details on how they will recruit and retain doctors in regional and rural Victoria.”
Dr Hemley made his comments following the launch of the Rural and Regional Health Plan. The Plan forms part of the Victorian Health Priorities Framework 2012–2022 a ten year plan for the Victorian health system.
“The Plan highlights the poorer health status and outcomes of rural residents compared to metropolitan residents,” he said. “More needs to be done to ensure that rural and regional Victorians have access to the same quality of care as their metropolitan counterparts.”
“We welcome the Plan’s focus on improving the capacity of the medical workforce and providing new training opportunities for doctors outside of metropolitan areas. It is vital that doctors working in regional Victoria have access to adequate training and supervision.
“The Government’s election commitments to support continuing medical education for rural doctors, fund a rural generalist program and establish a rural relocation fund were welcome.
“However, it is doubtful this will be enough to attract and retain doctors to rural areas and to protect the role of proceduralist GPs.”
Proceduralist GPs provide obstetric, surgical, anaesthetic and other hospital based care in addition to working in general practice.
AMA Victoria’s Rural Rescue Package released prior to last year’s election called for a number of initiatives to improve the rural medical workforce. These include:
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Payments for general practitioners for out of hours telephone consultations with hospitals to improve access to information and care.
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Retention allowances for hospital doctors who have spent at least seven years in regional Victoria to recognise service and improve access to care.
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A procedural GP allowance to be paid from a central pool rather than small hospital budgets.
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Rural relocation allowances for general practitioners and specialists, including recognising long service leave entitlements from other states, to aid recruitment.
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More support for health ICT in regional and rural areas to improve the interface between general practice and hospitals.
"The Victorian Government needs to acknowledge the great job our rural doctors do in caring for local communities and ensure they have sustainable workloads and a sustainable workforce," said Dr Hemley.
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