Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler’s announcement today to update the Distribution Priority Areas (DPA) classification system to automatically include all MM2 and even some MM1 areas is met with disappointment and concern by the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM).
ACRRM President Dr Sarah Chalmers says that while the intentions are good, the changes are likely to make access to high quality healthcare worse for remote and rural communities.
“The DPA system was designed as a last resort measure to ensure that the communities having extreme difficulty in recruiting doctors could have the opportunity to employ overseas trained doctors under facilitated and supported arrangements,” Dr Chalmers explains.
“The new arrangements will extend eligibility beyond the small rural and remote towns, to include large regional centres as well as some outer urban areas.”
ACRRM is concerned that by broadening eligibility to where there is comparatively little difficulty in recruiting doctors, the communities with the greatest need will have even less chance of attracting doctors.
There is also a strong risk that many overseas trained doctors in remote areas employed under the scheme will use this opportunity to take up positions closer to cities.
The College supports existing reforms which extend the scheme to practices which are identified as having exceptional circumstances.
“ACRRM will continue to monitor and advocate on this issue to ensure rural and remote communities including our remote Indigenous communities are not left without access to medical care,” Dr Chalmers says.
“The College acknowledges the role overseas trained doctors play in providing healthcare to rural and remote communities and recognises the need to better support medical workforce development in many regional and large rural centres.
“We will continue to strongly advocate for the right policies to address these needs.”
ACRRM President Dr Sarah Chalmers says that while the intentions are good, the changes are likely to make access to high quality healthcare worse for remote and rural communities.
“The DPA system was designed as a last resort measure to ensure that the communities having extreme difficulty in recruiting doctors could have the opportunity to employ overseas trained doctors under facilitated and supported arrangements,” Dr Chalmers explains.
“The new arrangements will extend eligibility beyond the small rural and remote towns, to include large regional centres as well as some outer urban areas.”
ACRRM is concerned that by broadening eligibility to where there is comparatively little difficulty in recruiting doctors, the communities with the greatest need will have even less chance of attracting doctors.
There is also a strong risk that many overseas trained doctors in remote areas employed under the scheme will use this opportunity to take up positions closer to cities.
The College supports existing reforms which extend the scheme to practices which are identified as having exceptional circumstances.
“ACRRM will continue to monitor and advocate on this issue to ensure rural and remote communities including our remote Indigenous communities are not left without access to medical care,” Dr Chalmers says.
“The College acknowledges the role overseas trained doctors play in providing healthcare to rural and remote communities and recognises the need to better support medical workforce development in many regional and large rural centres.
“We will continue to strongly advocate for the right policies to address these needs.”