Boost for Rural Workforce
The Nationals are committed to investing in rural health with initiatives to train, recruit and maintain more doctors and allied health professionals into regional communities.
Senator for NSW, Perin Davey said the 10-year Stronger Rural Health Strategy was already delivering results in regional health care and she welcomed the commitment of more funding for rural health.
“A re-elected Coalition will invest more than $1 billion in rural health with $146 million in new funding to build on programs such as the Innovative Models of Collaborative Care and the John Flynn Prevocational Doctor Program,” Senator Davey said.
“The Innovative Models Program creates greater links to rural medical schools and establishes team-based care for better patient outcomes through General Practitioners working with allied health professionals across the community.
“The John Flynn Prevocational Doctor Program will be expanded to more than 1,000 placements in rural Australia per year by 2026 which will train the next generation of junior doctors through rural and regional placements.
“We will also expand the Single Employer Model currently being trialed in the Murrumbidgee Public Health District which will allow more doctors training to be rural generalist GPs to work to the full scope of their skills and provide community and hospital-based services such as anaesthetics, obstetrics, mental health and emergency medicine.
“This builds on investments contained in the recent budget including additional Commonwealth Supported Places for medical students studying at rural campuses and more support for National Rural Health Students,” she said.
The Nationals Candidate for Richmond, Kimberly Hone, said the Richmond was set to benefit from the investment in the rural health workforce.
“We know geography shouldn’t matter when it comes to health care, but the reality is that it is hard to recruit doctors to regional areas,” Ms Hone said.
“I have been working with Regional Health Minister, David Gillespie, and my Nationals colleagues to identify opportunities to rebuild the country hospital doctor workforce, incentivise more multidisciplinary teams and protect and preserve the long-term viability of rural general practice.
“Only The Nationals and Liberals have a long-term National health plan that includes rural and regional health care,” she said.
