Support Funding for Australian Rural and Remote Health Workforce: A Medical - Nursing Mismatch

Abstract

Successive Australian federal governments have introduced numerous strategies aimed at reducing the differentials in health status between rural and remote populations and their metropolitan counterparts. Foremost among these strategies have been those focused on increasing the numbers of medical practitioners in rural and remote areas (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 1998a). The paper challenges the prioritisation of this strategy, identified as a "planning priority" by the Commonwealth government. The 1999-2000 Federal Budget allocated $171 million to "significantly improve access to services in rural and remote areas of Australia and to strengthen the rural workforce". Nurses provide 90% of the health services to these populations yet receive only 0.9% of funding in direct role specific support. This systematic neglect of nursing services results in high turnover as nurses desert their posts, frustrated by lack of organisational support, and subsequent inability to provide adequate care in the difficult circumstances in which they must function. Interruptions to clinical health care provision and health promotion activities diminish health enhancement opportunities for the communities with demonstrated high levels of need (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], 1999; Commonwealth Department of Health & Aged Care, 2000; Kreger, 1991; NSW Health Department, 1998).