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MEDIA RELEA |
Rural Service
Obligation Not Just for Phones:
New Rural Doctor President
Community
service obligations for rural and remote
“It’s a no brainer—there is now a universal service
obligation to ensure rural people have equitable access to fixed line phone
services, but there’s nothing to ensure they have a local hospital or doctor
they can go to when they have a heart attack, are injured in a farming or road
accident, or are about to give birth” said Dr Rischbieth, who was elected RDAA
President yesterday.
“Every year, millions of taxpayer and health
insurance dollars pour out of rural
“It is time that this blatant, annual grab of cash
from rural communities stops and the federal and state governments work
together to ensure that rural dollars are invested back into rural health
services. Introducing a Rural Service Obligation for rural health services
would be a key way to ensure this. Key measures required in meeting the
obligation would include:
·
ensuring that small rural hospitals and their maternity, general
surgery, emergency and other procedural services are available within 30-60
minutes of all rural communities, and that rural hospitals receive an annual
Commonwealth entitlement directly rewarding them for keeping these important
services open.
·
introducing additional supports to entice many more young doctors and
Australian-trained medical graduates to take up rural practice. There is also
an urgent need to better support the overseas trained doctors who provide such
fantastic service in our rural communities.
·
funding many more procedural training places annually in regional and
rural hospitals to entice more young medical graduates and rural doctors to
undertake training in rural procedural medicine, ie. obstetrics, anaesthetics, general surgery and emergency
medicine.
·
introducing additional supports and incentives, such as fee for service
incentives, to encourage existing rural doctors to keep working in the bush and
to show young doctors and recent graduates that rural practice can be a most
rewarding career choice.
“Rural communities don’t just want reliable telephone
services—they also desperately want health services provided by a local
hospital, local doctors and other local health professionals as part of the
rural healthcare team. RDAA urges the federal and state governments to
introduce a Rural Service Obligation in the next Australian Health Care Agreements,
to ensure just that.”
Dr Rischbieth and other RDAA representatives are available for interview.
Media contact: Patrick Daley on tel: (02) 6273 9303 bh or 0408 004 890.
About Dr
Peter Rischbieth
Dr Peter Rischbieth is President of the Rural Doctors
Association of Australia (RDAA). He is a rural doctor in
Peter is a GP obstetrician and anaesthetist and he
and his partners provide comprehensive medical care to the community of
Prior to being elected RDAA President, Peter served
for two years as President of the Rural Doctors Association of South Australia.
He has also been RDAA’s Vice President (Education) for the past 12 months.
Peter has been actively involved in teaching medical
students, interns and registrars and has been providing work experience for
prospective medical students for many years.
He has also been the Chairman of the Hills Mallee
Southern Clinical Privileging Committee for the past nine years and has a keen
interest in accreditation and clinical standards.
He has been the Principal Medical Officer involved
in hospital administration at the Murray Bridge Soldiers’
Peter has also represented RDASA on numerous
committees involved in clinical privileging, clinical standards and workforce
issues with the South Australian Department of Health.
The other RDAA Executive
members elected yesterday at RDAA’s Annual General Meeting were:
Vice President (Industrial)
Dr
Paul Mara, a rural GP obstetrician and anaesthetist based in Gundagai, NSW.
Vice President
(Development)
Dr
Sheila Cronin, a rural doctor based in
Vice President (Education)
Dr
Scott Lewis, a rural registrar from
Treasurer
Dr
Rob Whitehead, a rural doctor based in