Health and Ageing: 2007-08 Budget initiatives
Mental health for drought affected areas
The Australian Government will provide $51.7 million over five years (including $13.9 million in 2010-11) to improve access to mental health services for people in rural and remote areas. Funding will be provided to increase access to treatment services provided by allied and mental health nursing professionals such as social workers, psychologists, occupational therapists, mental health nurses, Aboriginal health workers and Aboriginal mental health workers in rural and remote communities throughout Australia. This measure forms part of the Government's contribution to the COAG Mental Health package, announced on 5 April 2006.
In recognition of the special needs of people in drought affected communities and to assist in their access to mental health services, an extra $20.6 million over four years is provided in the 2007-08 Budget to expand the Mental Health Services in Rural and Remote Areas initiative. This will provide additional mental health services by allied and mental health nursing professionals in drought affected communities.
The Australian Government also recognises that the mental health consequences of the ongoing drought require additional resources. Funding of $10.1 million is being provided over two years through 39 divisions of general practice to support communities in defined drought declared areas to respond to the psychological impact of drought. It will provide additional crisis counselling services for distressed individuals in rural towns, as well as education and training support for clinicians. It is also intended to raise community awareness of mental health issues and the services available.
Family centred primary health care
This initiative will expand comprehensive primary health care services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, specifically targeting rural and remote regions where mainstream services are unavailable. The measure will provide funding for additional staff, clinic upgrades and expanded outreach services in six Indigenous health services in rural and remote Australia. Funding of $38.2 million over four years will be provided, starting 1 July 2007.
Visiting Optometrists Scheme
The Australian Government will provide $8.6 million over four years to continue and enhance the Visiting Optometrists Scheme (VOS).
The revised VOS will ensure that assistance is better targeted to the most isolated communities, including Indigenous communities, and will increase financial incentives to optometrists to participate in the Scheme.
Funding will be provided for optometrists' travel, accommodation, hire of consulting rooms, and administrative support at outreach locations. As a result, the number of optometrists participating in the Scheme is expected to increase from 70 to 100.
Rural Clinical Schools Programme
Funding of $16.3 million is being provided over four years from 2007-08 to the existing Rural Clinical Schools Programme to enable the University of Wollongong to establish a new rural clinical school. This new rural clinical school will operate across a range of rural and remote sites in New South Wales, utilising general practices as major teaching sites for medical students. Up to 60 more medical students each year will be able to complete a substantial part of their clinical training in rural areas.
Improved dental care
The Australian Government is providing funding of $12.5 million over four years from 2007-08 to attract more dentists to work in regional Australia by providing training to city-based students in country towns, as well as offering scholarships to Indigenous dentistry students. Funding will be provided to offer 30 annual rural clinical placements to city dental students across a range of rural towns and increase Indigenous participation in the dental workforce through three $15,000 scholarships per year under the expanded Puggy Hunter Memorial Scholarship Scheme.
Health @ Home Plus
The Australian Government is providing $37.4 million over four years from 2007-08 for Health @ Home Plus. From birth to two years of age, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families in targeted outer regional and remote areas will benefit from dedicated, intensive home visiting services by health professionals. Those children most in need will also be supported through to the age of eight to help equip them to make a successful transition to school.
Quality of care in Indigenous health services
The Australian Government is providing $36.9 million over four years from 2007-08 to ensure that funded Indigenous health services will meet nationally recognised Australian health accreditation standards. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and communities will benefit from high quality and better managed Indigenous health services that are accredited against the same standards applicable to mainstream health services.
Rural women's GP services
The Australian Government will provide $14 million over four years from 2007-08, including an additional $4.3 million, to continue and expand the Rural Women's GP Service (RWGPS). By 2011, the RWGPS will be expanded by 32 locations, resulting in an additional 6,200 consultations per year. It will provide more women from more communities in rural and remote Australia with a choice between consulting a female or a male GP.
The RWGPS facilitates the travel of female GPs to rural and remote locations across Australia, improving access to primary health care services for women who have little or no access to a female GP. The RWGPS is administered by the Royal Flying Doctor Service and currently operates in 152 locations across all states and the Northern Territory.
Royal Flying Doctor Service
The Australian Government is providing an additional $156.6 million for the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) for the five years from 2006-07 to 2010-2011, bringing the Government's funding support for the Service over this period to a total of up to $274 million. This extra funding will ensure the RFDS is on a sustainable financial footing for the long term. Under the new arrangement the Australian Government will fully fund RFDS traditional services in rural and remote communities. The funding package will cover the operational costs of RFDS traditional services, include emergency aero-medical evacuations, primary health and community care clinics, telehealth consultations and medical chests at remote locations. The package will also provide funding to support the capital requirements of the RFDS, including aircraft replacement. The increased funding will mean that, for the first time, the RFDS will provide primary care services to islands in the Bass Strait. The Australian Government will also provide a capital contribution towards the purchase of an aircraft for the delivery of RFDS services in Central Australia.
MRI in Dubbo
The provision of a Medicare-eligible MRI service in Dubbo supports an election commitment made by the Australian Government in 2004. A grant of $2 million over four years, concluding in 2009-10 will ensure affordable access to an MRI unit in Dubbo. People will no longer have to travel around 150 kilometres to use the nearest MRI unit, located in Orange. The MRI unit provides for better access to Medicare-eligible services in central-western New South Wales, with no out-of-pocket cost to concessional patients. Since 1998, the Australian Government has managed access to Medicare-eligible MRI carefully because of its cost. Expansions have focused on improving access in under-serviced areas and hospitals with a clinical need.
Rural Retention Programme
The Australian Government will provide an additional $9.6 million over four years from 2007-08 for the existing Rural Retention Programme to meet increased demand for incentives by an estimated 400 new general practitioners in rural and remote Australia. The Rural Retention Programme was introduced in 1999-2000 to encourage general practitioners to stay in these areas.