Rural healthcare professionals have supported PSA's Budget submission in calling on the Australian Government to urgently address the lack of medication management and pharmacy services in rural and remote areas.

Delegates at the 13th Rural Health conference in Darwin said addressing this area of need had to be a priority for the healthcare system.

One of the 10 priority recommendations to emerge from the conference was: "The Commonwealth Government to fund clinical pharmacy positions in Aboriginal health services to oversee the delivery of the S100 Remote Area Aboriginal Health Service Program."

The recommendation was supported by the 1,200 delegates at the conference which had a strong focus on improving health and social equity in rural and remote Australia.

Delegates were encouraged after each plenary and concurrent session to put forward recommendations which were then considered and voted on by other delegates.

The 18 most popular recommendations now form the advocacy priorities for the National Rural Health Alliance.

National President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, Grant Kardachi, said the recommendation was one of the two main recommendations in PSA's budget submission and also was raised in PSA's 6CPA discussion paper.

He said this model is fully supported by the PSA which is committed to improving health delivery to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and all communities in rural and remote areas of Australia.

"The reality is that rural and remote areas of Australia still suffer from a disproportionately low number of health services being available to meet the needs of patients," he said.

"PSA has long advocated for the Government to take steps to address this issue". Mr Kardachi said increasing the number of pharmacists in rural and remote areas, and in the Aboriginal Health Service Program would be a significant step in improving health outcomes in these communities.

"Pharmacists are ideally placed to play a more significant role in managing these conditions within the community and to identify those most at risk," he said.