Policy and Advocacy update

The College has engaged in important advocacy on a range of issues over the past two months. This has included presenting evidence to national and state senate inquiries, hosting two RG specialist recognition webinars, and submitting to a number of seminal national consultations.
 
Read below for more information on the College's advocacy activities on:

• Diabetes Inquiry Public Hearing
• NSW Select Committee on Remote, Rural and Regional Health Public Hearing
• College advice to GP Incentives Review– call for member feedback
• RG Specialist Recognition Webinars 
• Meeting with Scope of Practice National Review Team.

Public Hearings
The College has provided evidence to several public hearings this month, including the Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport public hearing relating to its  inquiry into diabetes, and the NSW Select Committee on Remote, Rural and Regional Health public hearing for the inquiry into the implementation of Portfolio Committee No. 2 recommendations relating to workforce issues, workplace culture and funding considerations for remote, rural and regional health.

Diabetes Inquiry Public Hearing – Dr Dan Halliday attended the public hearing via teleconference an presented an opening statement before taking questions. How to improve access to health and nutritious foods in rural and remote areas was key focus of the inquiry, which heard a lot of evidence around food insecurity across the country. Dr Halliday confirmed there is an increasing body of work particularly on the underpinning climate change and health issues.

With extremes of climate variability and anthropogenic climate change, the risk of extreme events is likely to get worse, leading to more floods, more fires and prolonged drought events. Inherent in that is the need to look to ensuring that communities have suitable and safe water supplies, and that access to fresh food and water supplies is well established in our rural and remote communities. This is going to mean a need to look to infrastructure solutions, innovative models, and shared opportunities. Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have the opportunity to self-determine those opportunities. 

NSW Select Committee on Remote, Rural and Regional Health Public Hearing – New South Wales rural, regional, and remote residents have poorer health outcomes, inferior access to health and hospital services, and face significant financial challenges in accessing services compared to their metropolitan counterparts.  New South Wales College Councillor, Dr Rod Martin provided evidence to the public hearing last week, outlining that disappointingly, there has been little or no progress with any of the recommendations of the Portfolio Committee No 2 Report relating to single employer models;  maternity and obstetrics services; and emergency departments under pressure. In its evidence, ACRRM contended that a strong Rural Generalist (RG) workforce was a key solution to restoring sustainable health care services to remote, rural and regional areas. The College also recommended an urgent review of remote, rural and regional maternity services and emergency care in NSW.

College advice to GP Incentives Review– call for member feedback
The Department of Health and Aged Care have engaged KPMG to undertake a Review of General Practice Incentives across Australia. ACRRM will be providing a submission to the Review and would welcome member feedback to guide our response. Please email your view on the effectiveness and impact of the current incentives to policy@acrrm.org.au by Friday 8 December. 

The Review is part of the roll out of the recommendations of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce. It will aim to consider the effectiveness and impact of the Practice Incentive Program (PIP) and the Workforce Incentive Program (WIP) and will identify considerations to enhance their effectiveness as funding models in the future. 
The College has had an initial meeting with the consultancy team and is now seeking members’ insights to inform our formal submission.  Practices across Australia will also have opportunity to provide input to KPMG directly including through a survey, written submissions and workshops in selected regions.

RG Specialist Recognition Webinars 
The public consultation as a final stage assessment of the application for formal recognition of Rural Generalist Medicine as a specialist field is underway. ACRRM together with the RACGP and the National Rural Health Commissioner has been encouraging doctors and the community to participate in the public consultation on the second stage application. These have included:

• Joint-workshop at RMA
• Presentation by President Dan Halliday, to the Committee of Presidents of Medical Colleges
• National joint-webinar focused on the rural medical sector
• National joint-webinar in association with Remote Australians Matter focused on people in communities. 

To find out more about RG Recognition and the consultation process and what it might mean for you, we invite you to watch the recordings of our recent webinars below. The consultation is open until Tuesday 12 December and can be accessed here. 

Meeting with Scope of Practice National Review Team
College President Dan Halliday, CEO, Marita Cowie and senior staff met with Prof Mark Cormack lead, for the Independent Review into Scope of Practice in the Health Workforce on 1 November.  The College put forward the perspectives of rural, remote and First Nations communities and Rural Generalists and stressed the role of broad scope rural health care teams. Read the College’s submission to the review here.