'Stop the Rot!' — national roadshow on ASGC-RA anomalies

RDAA has launched a virtual roadshow to highlight mounting evidence that the new Australian Standard Geographical Classification – Remoteness Areas (ASGC-RA) system is making it significantly more difficult for small rural towns to attract doctors.

The roadshow features rural towns across Australia that are being significantly disadvantaged by the ASGC-RA.

North Queensland - click here to see how some towns have been disadvantaged in North Queensland.

Rural NSW - click here to see how towns in rural NSW have been affected.

Cl ick here to let us know if your practice or community has been affected by the ASGC-RA system.

RDAA continues to call for an immediate and independent review of the system.

The ASGC-RA is used to determine the extent of relocation and retention incentives that doctors receive based on their location. However, it has placed many smaller rural towns in the same category as larger regional centres and even Hobart, meaning doctors receive the same incentive payments whether they practise in the smaller towns or larger centres. This substantially reduces the incentive for doctors to move to or stay in the smaller towns.

2 documents.

Title	Date
An outback NSW town…or a major coastal city? Are they really the same? Under the ASGC-RA, many small rural towns across NSW are now competing directly with Hobart, Darwin, Cairns, Townsville and other major regional cities for doctors. This means that doctors working in small towns like Hay, Cowra and Deniliquin receive the same or even lower relocation and retention payments than they would by working in the larger regional cities! NSW’s small rural towns already faced uphill battles recruiting enough doctors to service their populations!now things have got worse. Here are just a few examples:	19/08/2011
North Queensland towns miss out under ASGC-RA system Under the ASGC-RA classification system, many small rural towns across North Queensland now have the same classification level as the major regional centres of Townsville and Cairns (RA3, outer regional). This is despite the fact that Townsville and Cairns each have between 150,000 and 200,000 people, major hospitals, considerable specialist support, much lower on-call requirements for local doctors, and a wide range of educational and leisure facilities. The smaller towns are now directly competing with Townsville and Cairns for doctors, as the relocation and retention payments available are exactly the same. Queensland’s small rural towns already faced uphill battles recruiting enough doctors to service their populations!now things have got worse. Here are just a few examples:	04/08/2011

Title

Date

Download Stop the rot -- Case study 2 -- rural NSW.pdf (258.06 KB)

An outback NSW town…or a major coastal city? Are they really the same?

Under the ASGC-RA, many small rural towns across NSW are now competing directly with Hobart, Darwin, Cairns, Townsville and other major regional cities for doctors. This means that doctors working in small towns like Hay, Cowra and Deniliquin receive the same or even lower relocation and retention payments than they would by working in the larger regional cities! NSW’s small rural towns already faced uphill battles recruiting enough doctors to service their populations!now things have got worse. Here are just a few examples:

19/08/2011

Download Case study 1 -- North Queensland.pdf (214.83 KB)

North Queensland towns miss out under ASGC-RA system

Under the ASGC-RA classification system, many small rural towns across North Queensland now have the same classification level as the major regional centres of Townsville and Cairns (RA3, outer regional). This is despite the fact that Townsville and Cairns each have between 150,000 and 200,000 people, major hospitals, considerable specialist support, much lower on-call requirements for local doctors, and a wide range of educational and leisure facilities. The smaller towns are now directly competing with Townsville and Cairns for doctors, as the relocation and retention payments available are exactly the same. Queensland’s small rural towns already faced uphill battles recruiting enough doctors to service their populations!now things have got worse. Here are just a few examples:

04/08/2011