Some of Victoria’s fastest-growing communities are in regional areas. About 1.6 million people already call regional Victoria home. With data centres and major renewable energy projects slated for development across the state, this number is set to grow further.
Author
- Belinda O’Sullivan
Professor and Director of Research, Monash Rural Health, Monash University
A growing population will place increasing demands on already strained rural health-care services. People in these communities have a breadth of health needs, and we need preventative, primary health care and hospital care that works for all of them.
Unfortunately, that isn’t the reality on the ground, something which has become a key issue ahead of Victoria’s state election.
In February, the Rural Doctor’s Association of Victoria called on Victoria’s major parties to commit to ending the state’s “inequitable health system”.
And late last month, Victorian doctors demanded all parties fix the state’s broken health system, launching their “Don’t get sick in Vic” campaign.
Yet, just over two weeks out from polling day, major parties are offering only short-term and simplistic solutions, without any real overarching strategy to improve health care for rural communities. Here’s why – and what practical, lasting solutions could look like.
The postcode problem
The challenges facing rural Victoria reflect a nationwide problem. Despite paying the same taxes, where Australians live can make a significant difference to the quality of health care they receive.
According to an October report by the National Rural Health Alliance, Australians living outside major cities receive about A$1,200 less per person per year across health, disability and aged-care spending.
The health system in rural Victoria has yet to recover from the COVID pandemic. The loss of migratory health workers led to significant pressures on general practices and allied health businesses.
The funding and training of general practitioners (GPs) is primarily the responsibility of the federal government. But GPs play a major role in the health of rural Victorians, crossing over into disability, aged care and rural hospitals.
Many GPs are choosing to retire early. Those who have remained are more selective about their workloads. A 2024 study of Australian GP supervisors suggested almost 80% have high exhaustion rates.
A separate 2025 Australian survey found less than half (44%) said they were willing to supervise trainee doctors in the next five years. This may limit how many new doctors can be trained in rural Victoria.
Election promises purporting to boost rural doctor numbers – such as health worker incentive schemes – do not address how we keep them once training is over.
Why promising more hospital beds alone isn’t enough
Ahead of the Victorian state election, both Labor and the Coalition have pledged a mix of more timely emergency services, surgery, beds and health workers.
Such promises centre on acute care, but do little to shift the dial for rural health unless they are paired with investment in grassroots general health care.
In many smaller communities – particularly where access to specialist doctors is limited or requires lengthy travel – rural generalists play a vital role. These are GPs with extra training to provide complementary care across emergency, obstetrics, anaesthetics, paediatrics and palliative care.
Interestingly, despite declining interest in specialising in general practice, there has been growing interest among medical students to specialise as a rural generalist since 2021.
This presents a significant opportunity. Victoria already co-invests in the federal government’s rural generalist training program . The state could capitalise further by exploring how to create attractive and sustainable employment options for rural generalists in rural hospitals.
Breaking down barriers
Drawing on interviews with people involved in training and employing rural generalist doctors across Victoria, my own previous research has examined what helps attract rural generalists to regional areas, and what makes them stay.
We found several barriers. These included health services competing for a limited number of doctors, competition with other specialists, varying levels of support from hospital leaders, and problems with workforce planning.
But we also identified promising solutions, including having a clear statewide plan for the rural workforce, improving coordination between different regional health services, and improving recognition and pay for rural generalists themselves.
More specialists, closer to home
Rural generalists, however, don’t replace specialists; they complement them. Many rural Victorians with chronic conditions are being hit with significant costs to travel to Melbourne, not to mention the time lost travelling.
This points to the need to invest in more rural specialist training in our regions, to grow more specialists closer to home. Any new state investment in regional specialist training positions would build on the work of rural clinical schools.
These institutions, with Commonwealth support, select and train people from rural areas to realise their dream of working in their own community as rural paediatricians, obstetricians and palliative care specialists. But they can’t stay if all the training is in the city.
Allied health is missing from the debate
Any funding rethink should also apply to allied health and multidisciplinary care . Allied health encompasses professionals working in a wide range of roles, including physios, occupational therapists, psychologists, speech pathologists and social workers.
It has a central role keeping people moving, thinking and socially engaged. Delivered well, it also helps prevent avoidable hospital readmissions and facilitates better care for staying healthy at home, along with promoting early discharge.
Regional Victoria currently faces a chronic deficit in rural allied health professionals and care coordinators. This is compounded by declining volunteerism and long waiting times for home care and aged care packages. And the consequences spill directly into our public emergency departments as bed-block and ambulance ramping.
Yet, in this year’s election debate, allied health has hardly been mentioned as a solution to emergency care and ambulance ramping .
A coordinated approach to rural health
We’ll have to wait and see who forms the next Victorian state government.
Whoever does, perhaps the most important opportunity to improve rural health care is to build on investments by the federal government. And “go bold” on setting a vision for rural workforce and health service planning.
A wide range of groups – the Rural Workforce Agency, rural Primary Health Networks, regional hospital networks and universities and colleges – can help inform this approach.
There are a lot of voters living outside Melbourne. That means a big opportunity for the party with a strategic, engaged plan to improve rural health.
