RICHARD FOX
22 Aug, 2011 04:00 AM
A FULL review of the controversial scheme that bases financial incentives for rural doctors on a map of Australia is long overdue, according to Nationals Senator, Fiona Nash.
The map used in the Australian Standard Geographical Classification – Remoteness Areas (ASGC-RA) scheme put towns into different categories based on their regionality, but the number of anomalies in the system makes it unworkable, Senator Nash said.
Smaller towns such as Tumut and Gundagai are classed in the same sector as Wagga Wagga and Tam-
worth, while doctors in Griffith, Coonabarabran and large swathes of rural NSW get the same financial rewards as those working in Townsville.
The scheme was drawn up to encourage more doctors to move to rural areas, but Senator Nash said it was doing more harm than good.
“When the intended outcomes of a policy go pear shaped, the logical thing to do is fix it,” she said.
“A doctor based in a large regional centre like Tamworth gets the same incentive payment as one practising in a small town like Werris Creek.
“Consequently, doctors are choosing to work in a regional centre, or are relocating from smaller towns.
“GPs who stay in smaller communities have to work longer hours to fill the void and residents have to wait weeks to get an appointment.”
The ASGC-RA splits a map of Australia into five sectors, ranging from major cities to very remote.
It measures remoteness based on geography – the physical road distance to the nearest urban centre and how far one has to travel to access goods and services.
Financial incentives increase the further remote a doctor moves.
A review of the scheme, which was introduced in July 2010, has been promised within two years of it starting but Senator Nash and a number of doctors across NSW and Queensland feel a review is needed as soon as possible.
Senator Nash has worked with the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) on a number of issues during her time in Parliament and believes the association’s call for a review of the ASGC-RA scheme to be essential.
“I support the RDAA in its push for an immediate review into the effectiveness of the program and the use of the ASGC-RA map,” she said.
“The same map is used to determine eligibility for independent youth allowance and it is having the same detrimental effect on regional students as it is doctors.
“There is compelling evidence that the ASGC-RA map is flawed.
“Health officials just need to look further than Canberra for that.”
A technical review of the system commenced last October by the National Centre for Social Applications of Geographical Information Systems, the same organisation that first developed the scheme.
This review has not been made public or available to the RDAA and its president, Gundagai GP, Dr Paul Mara, said its release would help the sector get a grip on what was happening.
“We were informed last October that a technical review of the ASGC-RA was being undertaken,” Dr Mara said.
“But months on, the review continues to be missing in action and we have still not seen a copy.
“We need the Government to call an urgent and independent review into this crazy system.”
A spokesperson for Federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, said the Government was “carefully monitoring the progress of the scheme” but did not comment on the timing of a review.
Source: http://theland.farmonline.com.au/news/state/agribusiness-and-general/services/rural-doctor-scheme-flawed-nash/2261881.aspx?storypage=0
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