Rural Health Workforce

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (15:05): My question is for the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Would the minister update the council on what the government is doing to strengthen South Australia's rural health workforce?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:05): I thank the honourable member for her question. The Marshall Liberal government is investing heavily in regional health services to ensure country South Australians can access first-class healthcare services as close to home as possible, both now and into the future. Our investments include more than $150 million for capital works to address the years of neglect and underinvestment under the previous Labor government and to build bigger and better facilities in regional towns and centres for the thousands of South Australians living beyond the metropolitan area.

These investments include funding to expand dialysis services in Ceduna and Mount Gambier; to build new ambulance stations in towns like Port Augusta and Strathalbyn; to improve and expand emergency departments in Mount Barker, Gawler, Victor Harbor and Murray Bridge; and to double the amounts of chemotherapy services delivered in country South Australia.

Of course, our investment in services and in bricks and mortar is only part of the story. We are also investing heavily in our most important asset: our clinicians, the people without whom there wouldn't be any regional health services. So at the heart of the Marshall Liberal government's investment in rural health services is our investment in country clinicians. Over a four-year period we are investing $20 million to develop and deliver a Rural Health Workforce Strategy that is revolutionising the way we train, develop and recruit the workforce needed to deliver healthcare services to our regional communities.

So far more than $16 million has been spent on initiatives to support the doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, Aboriginal health workers and allied health professionals working in rural South Australia and to attract the next generation of clinicians. Fundamental to the success of the Rural Health Workforce Strategy has been the development of detailed workforce plans for individual professional groups. The first of these plans, the rural medical workforce plan, was released in December 2019. This was followed in August 2020 with the release of the rural ambulance service workforce plan.

Yesterday, on the international day of the nurse, it was my privilege to launch the SA Rural Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Plan 2021-26 at Strathalbyn hospital. The plan includes 31 strategies to secure and enhance the future of the rural nursing and midwifery workforce. It was delightful to be in the room with nurses, midwives and other health professionals, some of whom had come from remote parts of the state to Strathalbyn to be there for this milestone event.

The Chief Nurse and Midwifery Officer, Jenny Hurley, an outstanding leader in the SA Health workforce, was there, as was the Chief Clinical Advisor, Dr Hendrika Meyer. There were also people who joined us by Zoom, and there was representation for every part of the state. The excitement was palpable.

Two more workforce plans that are currently under development will be finalised this year: a rural allied health workforce plan and a rural Aboriginal health workforce plan. Of course, each plan is not an end in itself but a road map: a clear road map for growing and sustaining the profession in rural South Australia.

Last month, an important element of the rural medical workforce plan was launched at the Boston Bay Family Health Practice in Port Lincoln, that being the rural generalist program. The rural generalist program is a new coordinated and streamlined training pathway to attract, train and retain a skilled rural medical workforce. It recognises the fundamental value of rural generalists as multiskilled doctors who deliver health care across the full gamut of services, from primary care in the community through GP clinics to hospital-based services, including emergency care, anaesthetics and obstetrics.

I would encourage anybody with an interest in rural health care to go onto our new website in relation to the rural generalist program and I would encourage people to particularly refer young health practitioner trainees to consider the rural pathway as their career choice. The rural generalist program is yet another example of the Marshall Liberal government delivering on its commitments and supporting the provision of health services in rural and regional South Australia.