The Rural Doctors Association of Australia is calling on the Federal Government to address the disparity in health care for people living in rural and remote areas compared to those in metropolitan areas.

RDAA president Dr Paul Mara said Australians in rural and remote areas should receive the same right to level of health services as their counterparts in metropolitan centres, but people in remote areas did not have the same health outcomes as city dwellers.

“The smaller the rural community, the longer hours the local GP is likely to work when the demands of private practice, hospital work and on-call duties are taken into account,” he said

“The fundamental building blocks for sustainable rural medical practice are financial viability, professional support, work/life balance and good infrastructure.

“Without these building blocks, rural medical workforce shortages will persist and the health disadvantage which is experienced by people living in rural and remote Australia will continue.”

GP and owner of Carnarvon Medical Centre Dr Kees Bakker said there was a deficit in rural health services but in Carnarvon it was not just down to the lack of facilities. “The statistics may not apply to Carnarvon,” he said.

Dr Bakker said to have 13 doctors and a hospital in a town of 6000 people would not be common in Europe.

The amount of time spent waiting to see most specialists was actually better than in Perth because specialists travelled to Carnarvon regularly.

Dr Bakker said Carnarvon tracked quite well in terms of health but this did not apply to the whole region.

“If you are in Carnarvon, it is fine, but if you are in Coral Bay, you only have a nurse, and if you are in Denham, you only have a doctor come twice a week,” he said.

He said some issues in the system needed to be addressed but health programs and facilities in Carnarvon were improving.