Rural areas ‘may soon have no doctors at all’

The nation’s peak rural doctors group is warning bush communities are in danger of being left with no GP as a result of a federal government policy.

Rural Doctors Association of Australia chief executive Peta Rutherford. Picture: Steve Pohlner

The nation’s peak rural doctors group is warning bush communities are in danger of being left with no GP as a result of a federal government policy that overturns a requirement for overseas-trained doctors to spend up to 10 years working in a rural area.

The Rural Doctors Association of Australia says rural-based doctors are being targeted for recruitment to large regional towns and outer-city locations, with some ­already making plans to leave ­following Labor’s change to medical workforce policy.

Previously, overseas-trained doctors were required to work in areas of workforce shortage – which are usually rural or remote – for up to 10 years before they were able to receive an unrestricted Medicare provider number.

The government has now added all large regional centres and some outer metro areas to the priority area classification.

RDAA chief executive Peta Rutherford said corporate medical centres immediately began targeting bush GPs for recruitment in the wake of the change.

“We’re getting reports from practices that the doctors who are employed there are flagging their intent to leave in the not too distant future, and others who are currently recruiting are finding there are fewer applicants, and particularly noticeably fewer ­applicants from overseas-trained doctors,” Dr Rutherford said.

“The fact that now there will be really no obligation for overseas-trained doctors to do a mandatory rural period of service, they won’t come.

“And the reality is that rural communities have relied on this policy. Up to 40 per cent of the medical workforce in rural and ­remote communities is overseas-trained doctors.”

The issue emerged as federal Health Minister Mark Butler held a health workforce roundtable with the nation’s peak health groups.

The roundtable was told there were severe staffing shortages in hospitals. Mr Butler promised to make the issue a key focus of the government.

“The fact is that if you don’t support skilled workers to deliver healthcare to the community, the health system fails,” he said.

A Health Workforce Taskforce has been formed, made up of federal and state government ministers and officials to jointly tackle the issue.

In response to concerns that rural communities were at risk of losing their GPs, Mr Butler said the previous government had “arbitrarily axed the ability of a long list of communities to recruit overseas-trained doctors to fill gaps in general practice in outer suburbs and the regions”.

“Labor initiated a Senate inquiry into GP shortages in the last parliament and it heard mountains of evidence of people not being able to see a GP at all, about having to wait months for an appointment, and having to travel hours when they do finally get one,” he said.

Mr Butler said that incentive payments for doctors to work in remote parts of Australia remained high.

“We are also investing $146m to attract and retain more health workers to rural and regional Australia through improving training and incentive programs and supporting development of innovative models of multidisciplinary care,” Mr Butler said.