National Strategic Framework for Rural and Remote Health

Box 3: Closing the Gap targets

The Closing the Gap strategy in the National Indigenous Reform Agreement (2008) has set targets to:

close the life expectancy gap within a generation

halve the gap in mortality rates for Indigenous children under five within a decade

ensure access to early childhood education for all Indigenous four year olds in remote communities within five years

halve the gap in reading, writing and numeracy achievements for Indigenous children within a decade

halve the gap for Indigenous students in Year 12 attainment rates by 2020

halve the gap in employment outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians within a decade

The strategies outlined in this Framework align with and will support these government commitments relating to Indigenous health and welfare.

Determinants of health

A variety of factors can influence the health of individuals and communities. These include environmental and socioeconomic factors, community capacity and individual behaviours.

Australia’s health 2010 highlights the differences between the metropolitan and rural and remote populations in relation to the social determinants of health. These include:

lower levels of income, employment and education

higher occupational risks, particularly associated with farming and mining

geography and the need for more long distance travel

access to fresh foods

access to health services.

For all these reasons it is essential that health service planning and delivery in rural and remote settings takes account of these social factors, and recognises the role of other sectors such as housing, education, infrastructure and transport, in maintaining the health of those who live in these communities.

Remoteness

It is particularly important to note that, as the distance from major cities and regional centres increases, disease risk factors and levels of illness increase. 

The cost of providing health services also increases with remoteness, while the availability of existing infrastructure and workforce become more limited. In addition to changes in the geography, population demographics change with increasing remoteness.

According to 2006 Census data, 24% of Indigenous people in Australia live in either remote or very remote areas.  Some states have a significantly higher proportion of Indigenous people living in these areas, particularly the Northern Territory (81% of its Indigenous population) and Western Australia (41% of its Indigenous population) (ABS 2007).

Remote Australia covers about 85% of the Australian land mass, predominantly in northern and central Australia. Remote areas can include sizable towns with good access to a range of services, such as Broome, Ceduna, Broken Hill, Alice Springs and Mt Isa. More commonly, remote communities are much smaller and services may be limited or not available at all. Many of Australia’s islands are also classed as ‘remote’.

People may live hundreds of kilometres from their nearest major centre and the availability of public and private transport can be limited. Travel can be difficult or impossible at certain times of the year, especially if roads become impassable in wet weather.

For Australians living in remote areas generally and, particularly, Indigenous communities’ access to a range of food items, including fruit and vegetables, can be limited. This is often due to the higher costs of handling and transporting goods to remote communities, the lack of appropriate storage facilities within communities, and the lack of suitable local produce to purchase.

The rural and remote challenge for health service delivery

The combined impact of fewer resources, poorer access to services, limited availability of key health professionals, poorer health status, lower socioeconomic status, distance and travel mean that rural and remote communities and the health challenges they face are significantly different from those that confront metropolitan Australia.

These differences mean that health care planning, program development and service delivery models that are appropriate for city based communities, do not necessarily translate well into rural settings.

This is most likely to occur if health policies and programs are formulated around broad assumptions that:

an appropriately skilled and trained workforce is readily available

consumers and providers live in reasonable proximity to services

adequate community and social infrastructure exists to support health services, and

all the key components of the system including primary health, aged care, hospital services, private options, emergency service and community support are in place.

Not only are such assumptions less applicable to rural and remote communities, additional factors will also add further complexity to health service delivery in rural and remote settings.

The availability and cost of housing, among other external factors, can have a significant effect on the ability of a region to attract and retain staff and can impact on the cost of operating services. This is particularly an issue in regions where industry and mining are growing rapidly and the cost of housing has become prohibitively high, or building stock is very limited.

Rural and remote services are unlikely to enjoy the same economies of scale as metropolitan-based services, and many small rural facilities experience a significant administrative burden on their limited resources due to multiple accreditation, accountability and reporting requirements.

When these factors combine, small rural health facilities and service providers can find it harder to maintain their viability, and may struggle to continue providing the services their communities need.

The challenge then, is to design, deliver and support rural and remote health services using more flexible, innovative, and locally appropriate solutions, without compromising the quality and safety of care. This also requires due consideration to issues associated with low patient volumes, which can impact both the viability and the quality and safety of services.

These solutions will, of course, need to occur within the framework of the overall national health care system, and reflect the evolving environment in health care reform.