Focus on rural and regional members

Focus on rural and regional members

Rural and regional health is a major aspect of our advocacy and I look forward to discussing the issues facing our members across the State, as well as solutions ahead of the next election.

ONE OF THE BENEFITS of taking on the role of President of AMA (NSW) is that I am afforded the opportunity to meet members across the State. 

This September, I’m scheduled to meet doctors in Lismore and on a separate occasion, Armidale and Tamworth.  

While there are many universal pain points in the healthcare system, these events give me greater insight into the local issues affecting members.  

For Lismore medical professionals, the challenges they have faced this year have been well documented. The ‘unprecedented’ February and March floods that devastated communities in the Northern Rivers continue to impact the residents in those areas. 

We have several members who – six months after the natural disaster – are still scrapping paint from ceilings and pulling up lino.  

They have received little financial support from the Government and risk closing their private practices altogether. 

These practices were unable to obtain insurance before the floods and will not be insured going forward.  

They continue to see patients, but in a limited capacity due to the damage to their premises, and this has further impacted their financial recovery and ability to fund repairs to their clinics. 

In addition to their own trauma, they are dealing with significant and ongoing mental distress from patients.  

The recent inquiry into rural and regional healthcare highlighted the substantial difficulties patients face in accessing health services in non-metro areas of the State.  

Which makes the Government’s slow response to helping these healthcare services get back to where they were before the floods even more disappointing. 

What happens to residents in these areas when GP and non-GP practices close their doors permanently?  

How will these communities be able to attract and retain other health professionals to the area in the future?  

The AMA has been working with other health organisations to call on Government to immediately provide grant funding to non-government health businesses in the Northern Rivers area. We are also calling on Governments to recognise all health services in regional and rural areas as essential services following a natural disaster, and ensure these businesses are supported in the immediate aftermath as a matter of priority so that residents’ healthcare access is not compromised. 

We believe Lismore is the ‘template’ for other communities across the country and medical practitioners, particularly those in rural and regional areas, should be watching this situation closely. If your practice was affected by flood, fire, earthquake, or any other natural disaster, what would it mean to you? What would it mean for your patients? 

Other regional visits

I’m looking forward to meeting both doctors-in-training and senior doctors in hospitals and in private practices in Armidale and Tamworth. I know from our Senior Doctor Pulse Check survey that the number of doctors in Armidale, for example, who reported feeling valued by their hospital exceeded the State average.  

We’ll be running this survey again and using the results to formulate our election priorities for the State election in March. 

We hope to have more information on that as we get closer to the election.