Figures released on Tuesday by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) showed health workforce numbers to be relatively stable. It means doctors in many rural and remote areas worked extremely long hours.

“In many rural towns, there simply aren’t the required number of doctors to meet local need,” RDAA president, Dr Ian Kamerman, said.

“There is a crucial need for governments and policy-makers to focus not only on doctor numbers but, more importantly, on a medical workforce that has the skills needed to provide appropriate medical care in the bush.

“In many cases, rural towns need doctors with advanced skills in areas like anaesthetics, emergency medicine, obstetrics, mental health and Indigenous health.”

Dr Kamerman said there are huge opportunities to boost the rural medical workforce,  particularly given the number of young doctors now graduating from Australia’s universities. However, the stars must be aligned to get them to the bush.

“A rural pipeline is needed, which takes medical students in at one end, trains them through the rural clinical schools, then provides regionally-based specialist training for both GPs and other specialists and finally delivers them into employment at medical practices that are well-supported and able to meet community needs,” he said.

Dr Kamerman said the RDAA was disappointed at the Federal Government’s decision to discontinue funding for the Prevocational General Practice Placements Program, as it was an integral component of this pipeline.

“There is also a critical need to take a long-term and strategic approach both to medical workforce planning and data collection going forward,” Dr Kamerman said.