The Rural Workforce Agency Victoria (RWAV) facilitated a Service Access Round Table in response to the challenges faced in recruiting and retaining healthcare professionals in Nhill and surrounding areas.
Health professionals, health organisations, the local council, and the community gathered for the Nhill Service Access Round Table, facilitated by the Rural Workforce Agency Victoria (RWAV) on 28 March 2023, to find innovative solutions to recruit and retain doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals in Nhill and its surrounding areas.
With a population of 2,500, Nhill forms an essential rural service centre in the Grampians region and is a resettlement centre for 270 Karen refugees from the Myanmar-Thai border camps.
The workshop was held in response to the difficulties faced in recruiting and retaining healthcare professionals in rural areas, with challenges including limited access to housing, childcare, and supervision. In addition, the freeze on Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) has reduced income for doctors, making healthcare services less viable. Mental health services, particularly access to psychologists and psychiatrists, are at critical levels and wait times for geriatricians are lengthy.
The round table identified several needs in Nhill and the surrounding area, including a significant need for increased FTE for many healthcare disciplines, particularly GPs, psychologists, psychiatrists, geriatricians, and allied health professionals.
Several solutions were explored at the workshop, including pursuing a rural loading for MBS billings being scaled up based on rurality to make healthcare services more financially viable. Partnership funding opportunities for recruitment and retention could increase funding available to health professionals.
Facilitated long health assessments for the Karen community is also on the agenda. Enabling rural GPs to access two weeks of leave by providing a funded locum was also discussed, while a list of locum opportunities is available on the RWAV website.
All these actions are being actively worked on by the Round Table attendees, the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) Victoria, Hindmarsh Shire Council, West Wimmera Health, Rural Doctors Nhill Medical Centre, Alliance Pharmacy Nhill, Nhill Neighbourhood Learning Centre and the Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Co-operative and facilitated where possible by RWAV.
RWAV serves the essential health workforce of rural and regional communities and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples throughout Victoria. RWAV partners with health services, practices, and the community to design innovative solutions to attract a workforce to meet community needs in rural Victoria.
RWAV looks forward to reviewing these ideas and actions in 3 months and discussing them further with our stakeholders.
This article appeared in the Nhill Free Press & Kaniva Times, 12 April 2023.
