Essay on Health of People Living in Rural Australia

When Australia was first colonised, health services were considered to be an issue to be dealt with by local governments (Evolution of Government Involvement in Health Care, n.d.). In 1901, the Constitution made health care the responsibility of the state governments and stated that the Federal Government was only in charge of quarantine issues (Evolution of

“The status of Indigenous health in contemporary Australia is a result of historic factors as well as contemporary socio-economic issues” (Hampton & Toombs, 2013, p. 1).

Home care and personal preventive services, such as immunisation is also the role of the Local Government. (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 2009)

al., 2011). Health service accessibility by individuals in rural and remote areas is a problem central to both countries. Reports indicate that compared with metropolitan populations, non-metropolitan populations, in both Australia and the UK, experience poor access to health services (Watt, Franks, Sheldon, 1994, p. 16). As in the primary care sector of the UK, majority of the doctors in Australia are self-employed and reimbursed on a fee-for-service approach (Gillies, 2003, p. 77). GP’s are the initial point of contact for patients in both Australia and the UK. Additional specialist medical services such as physiotherapy and optometry are only available when patients are provided with a formal referral from their GPs (Piterman, Koritsas, 2005). Although the NHS is similar to the Australian health system in certain ways, both systems also possess some differences.

Significant health disparities between rural and urban populations have been a major concern in the United States. One prominent factor contributing to the disparities is lack of access to quality care in rural areas which is closely associated with challenges faced by rural health care providers (National Rural Health Association, 2007). Rural hospitals are the key health care provider in rural areas, offering essential health care services to nearly 54 million people (American Hospital Association, 2006). They face a series of challenges such as workforce shortages, rise in health care costs, difficulty in finding access to capital, difficulty in

The rural population is at great risk for poor physical, mental, and social health illness. Compared to the urban communities, there is a lack of equality in health care allocation due to a lack of resources, finances, and focus in the rural population. They are “more likely to report poor or fair health, having diabetes, having chronic disease, being obese, not engaging in health protective behaviors, and experiencing cost as a barrier to initiating or maintaining health care” (Teufel, Goffinet, Land, &

The Department of Health (2011, p17) states that “as the distance from major cities and regional centres increases, disease risk factors and levels of illness increase.” The health of Australians in rural and remote locations is generally poorer in comparison to people who live in major Australian cities and towns. There are a number of health concerns for remote communities including the following (Department of Health, 2011, p17):

Girrawheen, within the City of Wanneroo, is an area of concentrated and significant socioeconomic disadvantage and the health and wellbeing of the population is dependent upon the ever-wider influences of the entire community. From this, we can see how activities forwarded by the local government can contribute to improving the outcomes against social determinants of health and have a positive impact on the overall health of

Most communities located around the countryside have endured from inadequate access to both preventative and clinical care.2-3 Relatively, most rural communities does not have fully equipped health centers that can care for emergency situations; community members make long trip to the city hospital in other to access emergency care.1-2 People with lower socio-economic status tend to have high disease rates which results in more health needs and, yet they have limited access to quality care due to high cost.3 The impact of the uneven healthcare access is felt more by most racial/ethnic minorities’ because of their health care burden.2-3

Remote regions are defined essentially as areas “where geographic distance imposes a high restriction upon accessibility to the widest range of goods, services and opportunities for social interaction” (ABS, 2004, first paragraph). Living in remote communities restricts choice for adults in choosing the most optimal health service, due to the scarce

The average ATSI person’s disposable income is only 70% of the average non-Indigenous Australians. This gap is even wider in rural, remote parts of Australia; for example, in Cape York the estimated weekly income for a ATSI person was $394 in comparison to a non-Indigenous Australians weekly disposable income of $896. Living in remote areas makes this even more of a struggle as there are fewer employment opportunities, higher costs of goods and services, poor education and poor infrastructure. Therefore, if ATSI people living in remote areas are already living on a tight budget this makes it extremely difficult for them to afford suitable healthcare. To overcome this issue, costs would have to be either kept very low or have complete government funding to avoid a lack of expression of interest. With enough time and funding spent in this system, it could potentially have an extremely positive impact on the health of Indigenous Australians living in remote

The Australian health care system consists of both the public and private sectors along with a range of funding and regulatory means (Farmer). Services are provided by public and private hospitals, private medical practitioners, other health professionals, clinics and other government and non-government agencies (Thomson et al.). Funding is provided by all levels of the government (federal, state and local), health insurers, individuals and a range of other sources. The different levels of government (federal, state and local) all have different roles in the provision of public health care.

Rural and remote Australia refers to those areas outside of major cities and are made up of many diverse towns including pastoral, farming, mining, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The Atherton Tablelands, a highland region of northern Australia near Cairns, is classified as a rural and remote area. This essay will provide a profile on Atherton including the demographical, geographical, environmental, and cultural features as well as how these factors impact on the health of individuals within the community. It will all discuss the various theories and models of care used at the Atherton Hospital, the role of the registered nurse and the multidisciplinary team. The specific knowledge and clinical skills required for registered nurses will also be outlined, as well as examples of how these skills could be demonstrated.

The survey excluded residents of non-private dwellings which is around 2% of the population.1 This may affect estimates of the number of people with some chronic health conditions which may require periods of hospitalisation. Households in Very Remote areas of Australia and discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities were also excluded. The only area where this is likely to skew results is the Northern

In relation to the socio-economic status, the extra $5 upfront hinders the utilization of GP for low incomers since the Health at a Glance 2013: OECD report (OECD, 2013) revealed the correlation between the poor health status and low socioeconomic status. However, Australia's geography and demography create further challenges. Geographically, Australia has a large country land; however, according to WHO western pacific region, most of the population is concentrated along the eastern and south-eastern coastlines while extremely less portion of population is concentrated in rural area (2014, para. 3). Brown and Warner, (1991, p. 24) say in non-metropolitan area, most of people have low economic status. And in demographical context, most of the Aboriginal and Torres islanders live in a rural Australia. Even though they account only about 2.4% of the Australian population, they experience much poorer health (Duckett,. 2007, p. 45). There is a significant gap between the rural and urban population in both health status and the health services. Any inequalities in health care utilization and unmet care need may result in deterioration of health status and further increase in inequalities. Rural areas encounter critical shortages of health resources and the lack of population size and resources result the reduced