Priorities for Rural Health

Abstract

On the last day of the 12th National Rural Health Conference, delegates broadly endorsed a set of priority recommendations that had emerged over the previous three days. They fall into four themes: infrastructure, clinical services, workforce and improving the health of Australia's first peoples. High-speed broadband should be available to all families, businesses and communities in rural and remote areas, ensuring equity of access no matter where people live and work. Political parties were also called on to commit to the principles of the Royalties for Regions program of Western Australia in order to strengthen rural and remote communities, their health, infrastructure and services. There was strong support for place-based models of services – empowering local communities – in areas such as health, education, housing and arts and culture. In the health sector, it will be interesting to see what the Federal Election campaign brings in relation to Medicare locals and local hospital networks or boards. Another of the priority recommendations called for food security in rural and remote areas to be ensured. Under the ‘clinical services’ theme, there were recommendations on improving eye health for Aboriginal people, aged care, oral health, maternity care, early childhood health services and the link between services based in metropolitan areas and patients in rural and remote areas. The last makes the point that specialist health services in rural areas should not be dependent on tenuous links with metropolitan services and the goodwill of visiting specialists. Instead, there should be service agreements and clinical governance structures that ensure continuity and networking of services in rural areas. The ‘workforce’ theme includes an expression of the hope that integration in rural areas of the disability, aged and health care sectors might improve the availability of sustainable allied health services. This would both increase access to allied health services and enable existing professionals to take leave and professional development entitlements. Development of Disability Care (the NDIS) has successfully highlighted the key role played by allied health professionals in disability and rehabilitation services. There is also a plea for a national campaign to promote the importance and rewards of generalist health practice as a specialty in its own right – one that is essential to leading and providing health care in rural and remote Australia. The Conference recommendation concerning the health of Australia's first peoples focuses on the potential benefits of greater numbers of culturally respectful health promotion campaigns addressing hypertension, heart disease and diabetes. These would be informed and managed by local community leadership and would help address the social determinants of health experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The priority recommendations are on the National Rural Health Alliance Conference website at http://www.ruralhealth.org.au.