For over a year, the Nyngan Multi-Purpose Service was forced to close five of its six inpatient beds because of a critical nurse shortage. 

It’s a stark example of a challenge we know too well - a shortage of medical workers across the Western Plains. 

This is no ordinary worker shortage - for many, it's a matter of life or death. 

The Royal College of General Practitioners says part of the country is getting “catastrophically worse” with some areas turning into “professional wastelands”. 

The Federal Government is set to scrutinise Medicare’s impact on healthcare worker distribution, Health and Aged Care Minister Mark Butler has announced. 

PHOTO: Mark Butler. Image: Federal Government 

The Working Better for Medicare Review will consider three main policy levers – the Monash Modified Model, District of Workforce Shortage, and Distribution Priority Area – to allow better doctors to work in the areas of most need. 

It will also examine overseas doctors and their experiences working in Australia, as well as how expanded Medicare funding can help GPs work to their full scope of practice. 

‘The global health workforce crunch is not going to be solved overnight,’ he said. 

Put your money where your mouth is

For the National Rural Health Alliance the problem can be fixed without one simple thing - a serious injection of money. It says the gap between healthcare spending in urban versus rural areas is $6.5 billion. 

However, the Australian Medical Association and the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) have both said they support the review, agreeing that the current mechanisms are not working.  

RDAA President Dr RT Lewandowski said that much could be done to update the current metro-centric programs.  

PHOTO: Dr Lewandoski. Image: Supplied. 

“We welcome the Working Better for Medicare Review and the focus it will have on ways to better distribute the medical and health workforce” RDAA President, Dr Lewandowski said.  

“We agree that the current systems are not fit-for-purpose, with many never ideal to start with."   

He said last year’s changes to the Distribution Priority Area (DPA) classification “only increased the struggle to recruit and retain doctors in the bush” and it resulted in a migration of Doctors from rural and remote to city areas.  

He wants more junior doctor training to include exposure outside of the hospital and outside of the city. 

According to the latest Health of the Nation report, released last week, the lower numbers of GPs in rural and remote areas means half of all patients out of the cities waiting 24 hours or more for an urgent GP appointment. 

Image: ABC. 

The Australian Medical Association has predicted that Australia will be short 10,600 GPs by 2031 - at the same time as demand for GP services is expected to increase by 58% over the next decade. 

RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins welcomed the latest review, saying Australia is currently battling through a ‘significant problem’ not just in general practice, but in the broader primary care workforce. 

‘We need to be looking at the pipeline from attraction to recruitment and retention, and having a look at the barriers and the red tape so we can make sure that we get the GPs where they’re needed,’ she said. 

Led by nurse, advocate and remote health expert professor Sabina Knight, and former senior health bureaucrat and academic Mick Reid, the Working Better for Medicare Review will involve extensive stakeholder engagement, with findings expected to be provided to government in mid-2024.