Royal Flying Doctor Service reveals health gap for rural and remote Australians

With limited access to primary health services, the results showed life expectancy was lower and mortality rates were higher for rural and remote residents when compared to those living in major cities.

The Best for the Bush report detailed 387,042 patient contacts last year meaning the service had assisted on average more than 1000 patients per day.

This figure included 45,374 aeromedical retrievals, including 55 per cent of flights for male patients and 30 per cent for Indigenous patients who make up 32 per cent of remote and very remote populations.

Circulatory system issues were the top cause for these flights with 21 per cent were due to heart attack, stroke or conditions like angina.

Accidental injuries, poisonings, assaults, suicide attempts and motor vehicle accidents made up the second most likely emergencies for the RFDS to respond to at 19.1 per cent of flights, ahead of 10 per cent of jobs for digestive system diseases like ulcers, reflux, appendicitis, bowel issues and liver, gallbladder and pancreas disease.

Some of the above issues can be prevented or better managed through effective primary healthcare and the Best for the Bush report demonstrated that those from rural and remote areas are 2.5 times more likely than those in cities to be hospitalised for a reason that is potentially preventable.

Better access to healthcare services is one of the key ways these worrying statistics could be remedied, according the RFDS federation executive director Frank Quinlan.

"All Australians should expect reasonable access to primary healthcare services no matter where they live," Mr Quinlan said.

"For Australians living in rural, remote and regional Australia, access to simple services such as a nurse-led clinic, a GP, a dentist or a specialist is much, much harder."

The lack of access is correlated with striking differences in life expectancy.

The Best for the Bush report said females in very remote areas, where access to healthcare is particularly strained, as recently as 2020, have been likely to die 19 years earlier than those in cities.

Males in similar areas are likely to die 13.9 years earlier than those in major cities.

In remote and very remote Australia, Indigenous peoples have a life expectancy 14 years shorter compared to non-Indigenous people in these areas.

Meanwhile, in major cities there is a gap of around six years in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members.

An RFDS spokesperson said with the release of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce report, the Australian Government had recognised the critical importance of accessible primary health care.

One measure of reasonable access, from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, is that people should be able to access health services within a 60-minute drive time at a minimum.

Using that measurement, the RFDS report found 44,930 people have no access to local primary health care services and 57,899 people have no access to a local GP.

The report also indicated 208,247 people have no access to local nurse-led clinics; 118,943 people have no access to local dental; and 134,851 people have no access to local mental health services.

"As we look to reform Medicare across the country, we need to deploy creative models of integrated, multi-disciplinary team based primary care for people living outside the reach of mainstream services, who mainly rely on services outside the Medicare system," Mr Quinlan said.

IN OTHER NEWS:

"As this report recognises rural and remote communities need rural and remote solutions that are designed with local communities to respond to need.

"The RFDS Best for the Bush report can bring government, service partners and communities together to deliver innovative, patient-centered solutions to solve these problems and ensure better health outcomes for our rural and remote communities.

"Working alongside government, service partners and communities, this Best for the Bush report is continuation of the RFDS' long term commitment to delivering evidence-based healthcare in regional, rural and remote Australia and this will only be achieved through accessible primary healthcare".

The report has called for actions to close the healthcare gap including the establishment of an agreed definition of reasonable access to healthcare, ensuring equal access to primary care through local planning and better data collection and integration.

RFDS has also called for primary care plans for certain populations, locations and at-risk populations as well as a National Compact on rural and remote health.

Access the full Best for the Bush Rural and Remote Health Base Line 2022 research paper here.