The Federal Government needs to address the critical shortage of allied health professionals in rural, regional, and remote areas in Australia straight away if the nation is to have any plan of making healthcare available and effective in those areas.
CEO Mark Diamond recognised considerable progress by the previous government in focusing on rural doctor shortages but recognised there is still much work to do.
The NRHA recommended 4 key ways to assure that healthcare becomes available to all Australians regardless of their location or circumstances. These were the following:
▪ Additional funding for 3000 allied health care professionals which is $300m over 4 years.
▪ 20 demonstration sites funding in rural and remote areas with a workforce to match the demand of individuals and use it to have future workforce models with a budget of $50m over 4 years.
▪ Set up grants program to ensure Australians in remote areas have telecommunications access so they can get healthcare remotely that may have allocated a budget of $400m over 4 years.
▪ Make Medicare rebates accessible for online healthcare consultations offered by GPs and other allied health experts to people in outer very remote areas with allocating a budget of $420m over 4 years and $180m per year.
What do you think of these following suggestions?