Doctor shortage in the bush at crisis levels
While the search for a permanent GP in Bourke continues, the doctor shortage crisis is now engulfing remote communities across the nation.
Changes by the new Labor government to the classification of remote communities, and changes to how doctors are recruited from overseas, might also have a further devastating impact on health services in the bush.
Member for Parkes, Mark Coulton, said these changes, announced in July, would undo years of hard work aimed at keeping medical services operating in remote communities.
Co-founder of Ochre Health, Dr Ross Lamplugh, joined the chorus of criticism and said unless the government made further changes, it would mean towns like Bourke, Brewarrina, Lightning Ridge and Walgett might never have permanent GPs based in the community.
And Rural Chair of the Royal Australian College of GPs, Dr Michael Clements, said the changes could mean that remote communities could not compete with the enormous incentive packages and opportunities now available to doctors in communities centred around large regional cities.
The new legislation effectively means towns within half an hour of bigger centres like Dubbo or Newcastle can now be classified as remote, and that changes to the criteria for doctors to claim incentives for working remotely would now apply to more health professionals.
It’s called the Distribution Priority Area and is a classification that rates disadvantage geographically. Bourke, Brewarrina, Lightning Ridge, and Walgett would be deemed the highest rating and Sydney the lowest. The government has changed those ratings to declare areas on the outskirts of major cities with a rating like that of Bourke or Brewarrina.
Mark Coulton said the government had not thought through the devastating impact these changes would have on Bourke, Bre and other small towns in his electorate. He said it meant doctors were less likely to work in remote communities when they could get the same financial benefits working on the outskirts of Dubbo.
In Federal parliament last week Mr Coulton described the legislation as ‘bad policy’ and a ‘kneejerk reaction’ by the new Health Minister, Mark Butler.
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