DiagnosticsRural Doctors To Invite PM On Rural Health 'fact Finding' Tour, Australia
The Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) will write to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd this week to invite him to participate in a national "fact finding" tour of rural hospitals, rural practices, health centres and Aboriginal Medical Services.
The call comes a day after the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission released its final report on health reform recommendations for Australia-a report which unfortunately lacked any substantial recommendations for much-needed new initiatives to increase the number of health professionals working in the bush.
"We know Prime Minister Rudd is aware of the critical shortage of rural health professionals that is impacting so badly on access to healthcare in country Australia, but there is a big difference in being aware of the situation in a general sense and seeing it first-hand in community after community after community" RDAA CEO, Steve Sant, said.
"We desperately need Mr Rudd to tour rural Australia from east to west, and north to south, to see for himself the devastating impact that the shortage of doctors, nurses and other health professionals is having on access to healthcare in rural Australia, and to hear about the crisis directly from those working on the frontline.
"We"d like him to spend some real time with rural doctors to see the types of complex cases they deal with on a day to day basis, and to find out how far their patients have to travel if they need further diagnosis and treatment. We"d also like him to accompany these doctors in the middle of the night to attend an emergency or delivery at their local hospital, to show him just how important these doctors, the healthcare professionals they work with, and the hospitals themselves, are.
"Mr Rudd has already promised that he will visit 24 major city hospitals as part of his consultation process on national health reform following the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission"s final report, but we are disappointed he has not made a similar promise to visit the country hospitals, general practices, health centres and Aboriginal Medical Services that play such a pivotal role in meeting the healthcare needs of the one-third of rural Australians who live in the bush. Such visits would enable the rural health professionals providing these much-needed services, as well as the rural patients they serve, to have their say.
"We would like Mr Rudd to invest one week of his time in travelling with our President, Dr Nola Maxfield, to rural communities in each state and the Northern Territory-towns like Murray Bridge in South Australia, Cloncurry in Queensland, Karratha in Western Australia, and Moree in NSW just to name a few.
"And importantly, we"d like him not only to experience the challenges facing the doctors and other health professionals working in the bush, but also the success stories-the towns where, because of the hard and constructive efforts of local communities and health professionals, sustainable healthcare services have been established and are thriving.
"It is time for our politicians to see first-hand the value of supporting the provision of local healthcare in rural and remote communities-we sincerely hope that Prime Minister Rudd will be the first to take us up on our offer."
Rural Doctors Association of Australia