Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At one point or another, we've all been patients in the healthcare system. It's a universal experience. But the quality of this experience can be greatly shaped by the interactions that we have with a nurse, a doctor or an allied health professional like a physio or a psychologist. It's the healthcare worker who is critical to our care—a GP who takes the time to call us after hours with test results or a nurse who extends their shift to make sure we have what we need. Our health workforce is vital to our being able to lead healthy and fulfilling lives.

But, in rural, remote and regional Australia, we have fewer doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, psychologists and other healthcare workers per capita than our city cousins, and these workforce shortages are leading to poor health outcomes, long waiting lists, less disease prevention, more chronic disease, longer times to diagnose and more avoidable complications. When you live regionally, rurally or remotely, it's expensive to travel to see a specialist in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth or Adelaide. Specialists become out of reach for many who are struggling to pay their rent or, indeed, their electricity bill.

When we don't have enough healthcare workers, it's not just the patients that suffer; it's our doctors, our nurses and our allied health professionals who suffer too. Health professionals in rural areas are likely to report longer working hours than their metropolitan counterparts, and the workforce pipeline is not going to get better any time soon to offer them any relief. A 2021 survey of final-year medical students found a strong preference to work in our capital cities, with less than 20 per cent of graduates showing a preference for working in regional or rural towns. We simply can't afford to lose any more health professionals to burnout simply because they're shouldering a load that should be shared but there just aren't enough people out there.

That health services in regional areas are falling short is demonstrated when you look at how much money is being spent there compared to metropolitan areas. A recent and important report by the National Rural Health Alliance highlighted this shocking disparity. According to the report, the gap between healthcare spending in urban areas and healthcare spending in rural areas across the whole nation is a staggering $6.5 billion. The report concluded that this type of health inequity is unjust and unfair for regional and rural Australians. It's obviously unjust.

The health outcomes in my region—in Albury-Wodonga in particular—demonstrate what happens when this health inequity occurs. Let me paint you the picture. The life expectancy for people living in Albury-Wodonga is one year lower than the national average. We have higher rates of asthma, arthritis, obesity and cancer. The mental ill health statistics are devastating. Our rates of mental ill health are 38 per cent higher than the national average and, tragically, we have a higher prevalence of suicide. Cardiac arrest rates in the Hume healthcare region, which takes in our Albury-Wodonga border region, are the second highest in the state of Victoria. Albury Wodonga Health is the service provider for this area. It's the only cross-border health service in the nation, servicing a large catchment of over 300,000 people. Within 15 years, this catchment is going to grow by one-third. By 2040, we will need a hospital and workforce capable of handling 150,000 emergency presentations, 40,000 surgeries and 1,900 births each year. A strong, capable, skilled workforce is desperately needed in Albury-Wodonga, more than ever.

Before becoming an MP I was a clinical nurse and midwife. I've seen how workforce shortages impact patients, workers and communities. I was also an academic researcher at the University of Melbourne's school of rural health for over a decade and I researched the best ways to grow and retain a strong regional health workforce. I know that there are solutions and that we must work together to respond to the terrible shortage we're experiencing in our healthcare professions in rural Australia. Our regional and rural communities not only deserve this but desperately need it.

To solve this problem on the border we must bring our major health education institutes—our TAFEs and universities—together with the local hospital, Albury Wodonga Health. Albury Wodonga Health are proposing to do just this. They have an exciting proposal to create a collaborative education and research centre. This proposed centre will not just help to solve our workforce shortages but also make Albury-Wodonga the regional health research and education capital of Australia.

This collaborative centre will be co-located at the new hospital in Albury that is currently under development with New South Wales and Victorian government funding. The centre will be a purpose-built facility that brings together clinical practice, research, education and training. It will pool resources for regional health research and will enhance our cross-border data collection and analysis. Really importantly, it will invest in our midcareer health professionals so that they stay in our region and are not lost to the city when they seek further education and training.

Let me give you an example. Currently there are no local options for postgraduate study in cardiac care nursing. Albury Wodonga Health say that they have a staff member right now attending a university in Adelaide to complete this specialty course. More cardiac nurses are desperately needed. The cardiac cath lab at Albury Wodonga hospital can be open only a few days a week and requires specialised staff to increase its operational hours. Remember what I said earlier—we have one of the highest rates of cardiac arrest in Victoria. A local training facility for postgraduate nursing, such as cardiac care specialisations, will ensure that we can meet the needs of our community and, really importantly, generate the necessary health workforce pipeline.

This centre is key to attracting, training and retaining high-quality staff to meet the needs of this rapidly growing population. This joint proposal has come from Albury Wodonga Health, the University of New South Wales, La Trobe University, Charles Sturt University, Wodonga TAFE and TAFE New South Wales. Imagine getting all these partners to the table. That's not an easy thing, but we have. There's also the potential for the Army School of Health to join as a partner too. This makes it unique. In Albury-Wodonga we actually train our Army and defence medics. They can offer real skills when it comes to not only our Defence Force but also our local health workforce.

As a former health researcher I know first-hand what an integrated centre of multidisciplinary education and research can do. Trust me when I say that this proposal can work. It will work if it can get funded. I know this is what our region needs. It's a big vision and, like every journey, it starts with a single step. The first step here is a really small one—a modest funding request of this government of $250,000 to facilitate the discovery phase of this project, to get it all on a page, to get the governance model right.

I've written to the Minister for Health and Aged Care, the Minister for Education, the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government and the Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health on this proposal, asking them to come together and fund it—to fund the solutions we're putting forward to address the healthcare worker crisis. To be honest, so far the government response to this funding request has skated around the ask, referencing existing training opportunities and restating their commitment to increasing the supply of health professionals around Australia, especially in regional, rural and remote areas of the country. Really? This government says it wants to address the health workforce shortage. Well, this is how. We're not just describing a problem; we're coming with a solution. Providing $250,000 is the first step on a project that could provide the tools to educate, train and retain our own at home on the border in the Albury-Wodonga region.

The National Rural Health Alliance report on rural health investment that I referenced earlier recommended that any solution to address the state of healthcare services needs to be place based. No two communities are the same, nor do they have the same challenges. So I really urge the government not to approach this regional and rural healthcare shortage crisis like it would in the cities or across the country more broadly with a one-size-fits-all approach. Help us to build our health workforce by investing in this innovative solution for Albury-Wodonga. If they care about addressing the health workforce shortage, and if they believe that the best way to grow a rural health workforce is to invest in locals, then the only conclusion is to give us the tools we need to educate, train and retain our own at home.

Rural Australia makes up 30 per cent of our population, provides 90 per cent of the food we eat and brings in 50 per cent of Australia's tourism income, but the higher burden of disease in rural Australia represents a $27 billion loss in economic contribution. We must invest properly in the health care of regional, rural and remote Australia in order to benefit everyone. Back this in!