COUNTRY HEALTH SA SCHOLARSHIPS

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (14:49): I rise to ask the Minister for Health a question. How is the state government supporting future leaders—doctors, nurses, midwives and ambulance officers—to improve the quality of care to country South Australian patients?

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:49): I thank the member for Taylor for her question; I know that she has a very strong interest in health issues. Tomorrow I have the great honour of presenting the Country Health SA Scholarships to a range of deserving recipients, an event that will be attended by their proud families, friends and members of their local health advisory council (HAC).

These scholarships, worth a total of $1.32 million, are used by country students to further their skills and by established rural health professionals to improve skills and advance their careers. Health disciplines in these scholarships include nursing, midwifery, allied health, medicine, business and Aboriginal affairs. Providing students with financial support is another great way that we have to recruit and retain health workers in country South Australia, because we know that students who come from the country are more likely to return to the country to practise, particularly if they train in the country as well.

Studies show that retaining long-term health professionals in regional areas improves all kinds of health outcomes, particularly children's health. A stable health workforce inspires trust and encourages community members to seek out health care. It also means that treatment is close at hand for people living in the country. If you ask them, the local fundraising groups, schools and sports clubs are always thankful to keep young people in their towns and communities. I am very pleased that country communities, through their local HACs, had a say in determining the scholarship recipients.

Country health advisory councils were asked to participate in the selection process of their local recipients, and were also given the opportunity to joint fund with Country Health SA additional scholarships from the area, so if they put in a certain sum of money we would match it. It is a good example of how the health advisory councils are advocating for their community's specific health needs, and I am happy to provide members with details of some of those scholarships. In the collaboration between Country Health SA and the SA Ambulance Service, a scholarship is being presented to a rural volunteer ambulance officer to study towards a bachelor of health science in paramedics, and this year (and the member for the Riverland might be interested to hear this) it will go to Allyce Medcalf from Renmark/Paringa.

The South Australian Bonded Medical Scholarship Scheme assists South Australian students to study medicine and work as doctors in the state, and this year's intake of six students will study at Flinders University. The Rural Doctors Workforce Agency is providing a valuable support program to recipients of this scholarship. The six medicine students are Belinda Washbourne, Megan Cain, Matthew Crabb, Lionel Warren, Phillipa Treloar and Wendy Baker. I am sorry, but I do not have details from where they come. I am also pleased that the second recipient of our most recent scholarship initiative, the Country Health SA Aboriginal Professional Employment Program, goes to Clayton Dodd from Port Augusta, who is using the scholarship towards a bachelor of nursing degree.

In the long term, the scholarship will help to boost the number of trained Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health professionals working in our state. Also presented is the Country Health SA Professor Margaret Tobin Medical Health Scholarships established in 2003 to honour Professor Tobin's vital contribution to mental health in South Australia. These scholarships will go this year to Wendy Scott from Gawler (member for Light) and Valary Elliot from the South-East. I am not sure which part of the South-East but, certainly, from the South-East.

There are eight undergraduate scholarships jointly funded by local HACs and Country Health SA, and the recipients include Zara Plueckhahn, who will be will be supported in nursing studies by the Lower North, as well as Sarah Knight of Kadina, Tammy Petty of Renmark/Paringa (again) and Gwenhyfar Ferguson of Port Lincoln.

Alicia McCallum from the Mid North is pursuing a bachelor of physiotherapy. I am sure that the member for Schubert will be delighted that the Barossa Health Advisory Council is joint funding three scholarships. They go to Melanie Pearson, who is undertaking a bachelor of speech pathology; Maree Henderson, who is studying for a bachelor of nursing; and Patrick Markey, who is studying also for a bachelor of medicine.

There are 75 recipients in all, so I will not go through the list today, but they will be named in the press release tomorrow. I believe that providing scholarships such as these and improving career opportunities to our country health workers pays off. That is 75 country people who have got scholarships to study and, hopefully, return to their home communities. These scholarships are an investment in our present and future rural health workforce. Since this initiative started in 1995, 307 rural undergraduate students have been awarded scholarships, and that is a significant number of people who have gone on to make a difference in rural communities.