{"id":11394,"date":"2021-05-13T02:59:11","date_gmt":"2021-05-13T02:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=11394"},"modified":"2021-05-13T02:59:11","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T02:59:11","slug":"budget-injects-more-health-investment-into-the-bush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2021\/05\/13\/budget-injects-more-health-investment-into-the-bush\/","title":{"rendered":"Budget injects more health investment into the bush"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Australian Government is investing $800.3 million to improve the health of Australians in regional, rural, and remote areas, ensuring all Australians have access to quality health care services.
\nFederal Regional Health Minister, Mark Coulton said the 2021-22 Federal Budget supports bold, new rural workforce and training measures designed to further deliver the Government\u2019s ten-year Stronger Rural Health Strategy.
\n\u201cRegional Australia is driving Australia\u2019s economic recovery from COVID-19, and through our investment in the health portfolio in the 2021-22 Budget we continue to provide support to enable the regions and our local communities to prosper and grow,\u201d Minister Coulton said.
\n\u201cThis is a health budget especially for the almost 8 million Australians who live and work in the regions. All Australians, regardless where they live, should have access to high quality health care.\u201d
\nThe Morrison McCormack Government continues \u2013 in this Budget \u2013 to invest in the rural training pipeline and improve the financial viability of rural practise, helping grow the nation\u2019s highly skilled and vital rural health workforce.
\nA measure with immediate impact on the bottom-line for our doctors, is the introduction from 1\u00a0January 2022, at a cost of more than $65 million in the first four years, of a new progressive bulk billing schedule to better acknowledge remoteness under the MBS.
\n\u201cOur Government understands doctors face greater health complexities and challenges in rural and remote areas, which is why more than 12,000 GPs will be eligible for a higher bulk billing incentive,\u201d Minister Coulton said.
\n\u201cEnhancing the financial viability of GP practices in rural towns and remote areas is just one of the things governments need to do to ensure we are attracting doctors to where they are most needed.
\nMore junior doctors will receive invaluable rural training experiences through the new $12.4 million John Flynn Prevocational Doctor Training Program.
\n\u201cThis is a much needed injection for rural training, which will deliver almost double the current number of rural primary care rotations, ensuring young doctors have more exposure to the opportunities available in rural practice,\u201d Minister Coulton said
\n\u201cWe continue to invest in training early career allied health professionals through a $9.6 million expansion of the successful Allied Health Rural Generalist Pathway, which more than doubles the number of training positions for allied health disciplines.
\n\u201cAllied health plays an important role in primary care. It is why we are supporting allied health professionals to participate in patient management conferencing, to provide more team-based primary health care to people in the bush.\u201d
\nThe Government is developing a streamlined program to support the National Rural Generalist Pathway in recognition of the greater demands and broader range of advance skills doctors often require in regional areas, especially where there is less support from other doctors and hospital services.
\nMinister Coulton said the Coalition Government understands rural and remote communities require bespoke, innovative workforce and training measures if we are to create more sustainable health services, better harness existing resources, and attract more health professionals to rural areas.
\n\u201cAnother $2.2 million will increase the number of collaborative primary care models underway in rural Australia, similar to those already in progress in southern and western NSW,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cWe are also supporting a similar approach for specialist training, by investing $29.5 million to trial new regional training models with the aim of keeping more specialists training in rural settings, rather than them needing to relocate to training hospitals in metropolitan areas.
\nTo further advance primary care in rural Australia, the Primary Health Network after hours program is being extended, the Hearing Services Online portal is being modernised and rural and remote diagnostic imaging providers are being assisted to upgrade and replace older equipment.
\nMinister Coulton welcomed significant investments in the 2021\u201322 Budget across the health portfolio to undertake once-in-a-generation changes to aged care, and strong reforms to the mental health sector.
\n\u201cOur five pillar, five-year plan for aged care will deliver a record $17.7 billion package to reform the aged care sector, based on the principles of respect, care and dignity for our ageing,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cI want to see regional people be able to receive the care they need in the communities where they have lived, worked and raised their families.
\n\u201cRural, regional and remote communities will see improvements to residential aged care funding models, an expansion of home care packages, direct funding for infrastructure upgrades and greater support for the workforce, especially for registered nurses and GPs.
\n\u201cOur $2.3 billion investment in mental health and suicide prevention \u2013 the largest investment in Australia\u2019s history \u2013 includes direct benefits for country communities.\u201d
\nA new national network of 57 additional mental health treatment centres and satellites, as well as an expansion of the Headspace program, will bolster services for the young and old in the bush.
\nMinister Coulton said the Government understands that one of the barriers regional Australians face in accessing mental health services is workforce shortages.
\n\u201cThe Budget delivers $202 million for the mental health workforce, including $58.8\u00a0million aimed at boosting the number of psychiatrists, mental health nurses, psychologists and allied health practitioners in mental health services. More than $15 million is also available to support GPs to train and upskill to provide mental health care in the regions,\u201d he said.
\nThe Government is continuing the critical services regional Australians have relied on during COVID-19 with $3 billion to extend our COVID-19 health response, including $1.9\u00a0billion for the COVID-19 vaccination rollout and $204.6 million to extend telehealth measures, which have kept rural and regional communities safe and helped tackle the tyranny of distance.
\n\u201cThe Nationals understand the complex challenges faced by the rural health sector, such as recruiting GPs, nurses and allied health professionals to the bush, and I am 100 per cent committed to developing a range of programs and initiatives to combat this,\u201d he said.
\nThe new investment in the 2021-22 Budget is in addition to the $6.1 billion the Government is estimated to provide towards small rural and regional hospitals through the 2020-25 National Health Reform Agreement, and $7.5 billion for existing health workforce programs over the forward estimates.
\nREGIONAL HEALTH 2021-22 BUDGET SNAPSHOT<\/strong>
\nThe Government\u2019s 2021-22 rural, regional and remote investments in the 2021-22 Budget include, but is not limited to the following:
\nCOVID Response<\/strong><\/p>\n