Health conference calls for action on rural health issues
Conference delegates at the National Rural Health Conference in Perth have wound up proceedings with a communiqué congratulating the Federal Government and Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, on their continued support for the longitudinal study into women’s health and for the consultative processes and plans brought together in the National Men’s Health Policy as well as the new National Women’s Health Policy.
In particular they welcome the emphasis in these policies on health disadvantage in rural and remote areas.
They noted that the greatest social challenge for Australia was the “parlous state of Indigenous health”.
“The rural and remote health sector has great hopes for Medicare Locals (MLs) and Local Hospital Networks. In rural and remote areas both entities will need sufficient funding for the more complex challenges they face. This high level of support will be particularly important for MLs as, over time, they become the lead agency for primary care in their region.
“MLs will require community contracts in order to secure genuine and effective community engagement. The contract of a Medicare Local with the consumers and clinicians in its region will be based on partnerships with all the health and health-related agencies that have a legitimate role in determining wellbeing of its population. They will also need appropriate contractual arrangements with the governments that fund them. These ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top-down’ arrangements might be based on model contracts.”
Conference delegates agreed that it is critical that reform of the Australian health system and the operation of the new Preventive Health Agency result in a greater proportion of total health expenditure being spent on health promotion and illness prevention than is currently the case.
Given the particular characteristics of rural and remote areas, health promotion work in country areas must be fit for purpose and not merely the backwash from national campaigns.
Other issues mentioned in the communiqué included:
- Food sovereignty
- Managing health services
- Health workforce development
- Better oral health
- Better mental health
- Better connectivity
- Healthy ageing and aged care
