Time For A Revolution On Rural Health Too, Mr Rudd

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 28 Aug 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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Now that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is making headway with an Education Revolution, he should immediately turn his attention to spearheading a Rural Health Revolution, the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) urged.

"While we acknowledge that Prime Minister Rudd's speech at the National Press Club today had education as its core message, we were very disappointed that he made absolutely no mention of the urgent need to fix the rural health crisis in this country-a crisis which is so very badly affecting the health outcomes and life expectancies of rural Australians" RDAA President, Dr Peter Rischbieth, said.

"In fact, the last time we really heard the Prime Minister talking about the need to improve access to healthcare in the bush was soon after last year's election.

"We are extremely disappointed that rural health seems to have dropped off the Government's agenda-any action we had hoped for in this critical area has been bogged down in a process of reviews, many of which will continue on for another year. Unfortunately, this means that any government action recommended through these reviews will very likely miss the 2009-10 budget round, making it yet another year before any real inroads can be made into this major problem.

"The Government's own rural workforce audit-released earlier this year-confirmed the urgent need to get more doctors, nurses and other health professionals into rural and remote Australia. Yet we are seeing no concrete action, and no concrete funding, from the Federal Government in response to this.

"Meanwhile, we continue to see new reports released regularly which underline the much poorer health outcomes for rural and remote Australians compared with those living in the cities.

"For example, a report released just last week by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Cancer survival and prevalence in Australia, has again demonstrated that, for all persons, all-cancer 1- and 5-year relative survival decreases with increasing remoteness.

"It is not only cancer survival where rural and remote Australians continue to be worse off-there's a long list of health outcomes for which rural Australians are severely disadvantaged. For example, they tend to have a higher incidence of high blood pressure; higher rates of obesity; poorer outcomes from heart attacks, cardiac arrests and strokes; and higher rates of diabetes.

"It is terrific that the Prime Minister has the passion to drive forward an Education Revolution, but rural doctors and rural communities across Australia have been crying out for a Rural Health Revolution for years…and they are still waiting. "Rural communities need three central factors in order to be truly sustainable-appropriate access to education, appropriate access to local health services, and employment opportunities. Getting more doctors and other health professionals to the bush-and making real improvements in access to rural health services in this country-would make a huge difference in clawing back the lower life expectancy of rural Australians compared with those living in the cities, and in giving rural Australians the better health outcomes they need and deserve."

Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA)