Federal Nationals Member for Page Kevin Hogan has called on the Albanese Government to immediately reverse its decision allowing overseas-trained doctors and Commonwealth Scholarship Students to work in major cities, rather than spend time in rural and regional communities.
Mr Hogan said outer urban areas of Sydney including parts of Penrith and the Northern Beaches now have the same classification as Grafton when it comes to Distribution Priority Areas (DPAs)
“In parts of inner Sydney there’s one GP for every 500 people, compared with one for every 5,000 in some regional communities,” Mr Hogan said.
“The Albanese Government’s decision to include outer urban areas in the DPAs resulted in an immediate drain of experienced medical personnel from rural and regional areas to the city.”
Mr Hogan’s call follows a meeting with medical professionals in Grafton, which heard the local health system is sliding into crisis due to a severe shortage of GPs.
“Nursing home beds are closed because there aren’t enough doctors to serve the aged care patients, leading to long waiting lists for nursing home beds and adding further pressure to already strained hospitals,” Mr Hogan said.
As well as reforms to the DPAs, Mr Hogan said he would be fighting for Medicare provider numbers to be linked to specific postcodes to get more doctors into regional areas.
“There also need to be more financial incentives to attract GPs to regional areas. The staff shortages are placing unacceptable pressures on those people working hard to hold the system together,” Mr Hogan said.
