Rural heath workforce shortage could be alleviated by more placements

Gundagai-based Doctor Paul Mara has called for a sustained and leveraged response to the "mathematical problem" of doctor shortages in regional areas and said he was not surprised by the findings of a recent university study into the sector.

The study, conducted by six major Australian universities, examined the relationship between exposure to rural and regional medicine and people's places of work.

It found the majority of allied health graduates from the University of South Australia - 76 per cent - were from metropolitan areas and had done placements outside the city, while 20 per cent came from rural and regional communities.

The implications are exposure to life and work outside major cities is key to attracting more workers to under-served hospitals.

Doctor Mara said the findings were not surprising.

"It's a fairly normal response, but it's the one we need," he said. "We have a mathematical problem here, which needs a sustained and leveraged response.

"That [placement] exposes people to rural and regional, and you may get some reconsidering their career choices - but it's really that they need the experience."

In Australia, about 7 million people - or 28 per cent of the population - live in rural and remote areas. Despite having greater medical needs, these communities face severe health workforce shortages.

Doctor Mara said mandatory placements could act as both a stop-gap measure and improve the long-term prospects of doctors and allied health professionals working in the bush.

"We have all these little programs, and they don't make a difference in a lot of cases - adding 10 doctors here and there," he said.

"What I'm saying is they should be doing a third-year prac, not based in a hospital, but in the community ... not just those who want to, but everyone. You'd tailor it so people would spend less time if they went to remote areas, and so on.

"It would provide immediate workforce relief for these towns ... it'd be a sign of our commitment to the workforce in these areas."

UniSA Department of Rural Health researcher Dr Lee Puah says understanding the connection between rural placements and rural practice is vital for addressing workforce shortages.

"Every Australian deserves access to quality healthcare, yet Australians living in rural and remote communities experience challenges in accessing health services in comparison to Australians living in metropolitan centres," he said.

"This type of research can help us understand and plan future placements to help address the maldistribution of the workforce.

"Our study found that rural placements were fundamental in attracting allied health professionals to rural areas, both after graduation and beyond as they provide a taste of the rural work environment."

The paper was part of the Nursing and Allied Health Graduate Outcome Tracking (NAHGOT) Study, a collaboration between six Australian universities - Monash University, University of Newcastle, Deakin University, the University of Queensland, University of Southern Queensland, and the University of South Australia.