Ageing in place report reveals lack of Kilkivan, Goomeri health services

A new report has painted a revealing picture about the challenges faced in rural towns, where the average age of residents is more than a dozen years older than in the Southeast Queensland corner.

The stark shortfalls in health support for the Gympie region’s rapidly ageing regional populations has been laid bare in a new report, which revealed shortfalls in health and telecommunication servics despite residents being on average at least 12 years older than their Southeast Queensland counterparts.

The severe lack of health care in Gympie’s west has been laid bare in a new report highlighting the challenges faced by a population almost one third older than those in the state’s southeast corner.

GP shortages and telecommunication black spots were among the key problems dragged into the light in the Ageing in Place report presented to Gympie region councillors on Wednesday morning.

The report, compiled with the help of Dr Jayne Clapton, USC’s Gympie Campus, and the Kilkivan and District Community Care Association, revealed the Gympie region’s demographics had skewed considerably in the past decade.

Tin Can Bay, Rainbow Beach and Cooloola Cove had become the demographically oldest part of the region.

The average age of residents living in these towns is 59 years, the report says, a full 22 years above the median age Southeast Queensland residents.

The average age of Kilkivan and Goomeri residents is 49 years old, with almost one-third of its residents aged 60 years or older.

As of 2016, almost half of these three town’s populations (49 per cent) was aged 60 years or more, compared to only one third in 2011.

Residents at Kilkivan and Goomeri were on average a full decade younger at 49; the median age of residents at Gympie city was 41 years.

The report stated that of the 12,100 new people to move to Gympie between 2011 and 2016, 9508 (more than 78 per cent) were aged 50 or older.

The largest proportion were “empty nesters and retirees”, in the 60-69 age bracket.

But while the coast is the choice destination for those aged 50 or older, the report says it is out west at Kilkivan and Goomeri where the biggest challenges lie.

These included the subregion’s small population density compared to other parts of Gympie and the lack medical and health services like a full time GP.

Rosie Fitzgerald has been fighting for better aged care in the Kilkivan area.

“Currently a Sunshine Coast GP based GP visits the Kilkivan Health Centre once a fortnight for two days, and a Murgon GP visits Goomeri Health Centre by appointment,” the report says.

“In comparison, there are now three GP clinics on the Cooloola Coast located at Cooloola Cove, Tin Can Bay, and Rainbow Beach servicing the growing population in that subregion.”

Community advocates have been fighting for years to secure better aged care services around Kilkivan.

Tin Can Bay (pictured), Rainbow Beach and Cooloola Coast has the oldest demographic in the Gympie region at an average age of 59 years, but unlike Kilkivan and Goomeri has several GP clinics. Photo Craig Warhurst / Gympie Times

The reports notes aged care is primarily the responsibility of the Federal Government but the council has a role to play through better planning and design, including footpaths and disability parking, advocating for better health services, and attracting investment for services that meet ageing residents’ needs while providing jobs.

It says Kilkivan and Goomeri can be used as a starting point but many of the recommendations can be applied across the region.

The recommendations included further campaigning to fix telecommunication black holes in the area, which hinder residents’ ability to access services like telehealth, and to make the area attractive for investment in small respite and aged care centres

Low computer literacy among residents in these rural areas is another problem, the report says.