THE Federal Government has announced new reforms to help address major workforce shortages in rural and remote health services, including cash incentives of up to $120,000 to lure doctors to remote areas.
But the new investments have been described as just the "tip of the iceberg" when compared to what's needed by the Rural Doctors Association of Australia.
Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, announced a $134.4 million package in this week's budget following an audit of the health workforce in rural Australia.
The audit, completed last year, found the current supply of health professionals was not sufficient to meet the community's needs.
It said the previous Howard Government relied on out of date population data from 1991 in providing incentives to work in rural areas.
The package is designed to ensure that "the more remote you go, the greater the reward", according to Ms Roxon, who said the Government wants to encourage doctors to work in some of Australia's most isolated communities – and keep them there.
Under the new system, a doctor relocating from a major city to a regional centre could receive a grant of $15,000.
If that doctor moved to a very remote area the grant could be as much as $120,000.
Retention payments will also be linked to remoteness, with some bonus payments for doctors working in some of Australia's most remote locations set to have their packages almost double from $25,000 to $47,000 a year.
More than 2400 rural doctors will also become eligible for the retention payments for the first time.
The package would also see more than 500 communities across Australia eligible for the grants for the first time.
Restrictions on overseas-trained doctors will be lifted sooner if they move to rural areas to practise and more locum relief will be available for doctors in "difficult locations".
The new system will come into effect from July 1 this year.
While the RDAA has welcomed the additional funding, it says it is but a "first step" towards fixing the rural health crisis.
It has warned that the additional funding is only a down-payment and major investment in the sector is still urgently required to make a real impact.
"It is good to see a modest amount of additional funding being allocated to this critical area, particularly at a time when the Government is facing some very hard financial decisions," RDAA president, Dr Nola Maxfield, said.
"However, total funding for rural health is still a long way off where it needs to be if we are to really improve access to rural healthcare for the one-third of Australians who live in the bush.
"Rural Australians continue to suffer from more complex health issues than those living in the city yet they increasingly are finding that their hospitals are being shut down or downgraded, and they are being forced to travel long distances to access the healthcare they need.
"At least 17,000 additional health professionals—including 1800 additional doctors—are needed urgently in rural and remote Australia just to ensure basic access to healthcare in the bush."
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