ACRRM welcomes today’s Commonwealth Government announcement of a $220 million Strengthening Medicare – General Practice Grants Program, acknowledging it will help boost general practice and lead to greater healthcare outcomes for rural and remote communities.
The grants program is designed to support general practices and eligible Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations to invest in training, equipment and minor capital works.
ACRRM President Dr Dan Halliday says this is the first time in a long time that general practices have been offered grant funding for infrastructure projects to improve their facilities and service.
“This funding focuses on enhancing digital health capability and upgrading infection prevention and control arrangements for all practices, regardless of size; projects which ACRRM has advocated for,” Dr Halliday says.
“While we welcome this news, we also acknowledge it needs to be the start of more significant investments to follow,” Dr Halliday says.
“It’s also important that the application process be as simple as possible, to encourage applications and enable improvements to be made efficiently and effectively,” he adds.
ACRRM has long called for the government to invest in building strong, resilient, and sustainable health services in rural and remote and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
“General practices are key to improving the healthcare outcomes of their patients, and they make their communities more attractive places to live and work, leading to better economic and social opportunities,” Dr Halliday says.
“We will continue to advocate for rural and remote, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander general practices so that they can provide the specialised and bespoke services required to improve healthcare outcomes for their communities.”
ENDS