The Demand of Rural Workforce

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- Barriers to Meet the Demand of the Rural Workforce for Healthcare

There are many barriers to meet the rural workforce’ demand for healthcare. It is reported by Tolhurst (2003) that rural hospitals do not have enough investment to purchase the sophisticated but costly medical equipment which is the biggest barrier substantially. Tolhurst (2003) also finds that to attract GPs to rural Australia is difficult as the longer working time there broadly. That is because GPs also want to enjoy the equal personal time as others. Subsequently, Kosmina (2005) indicates that to improve the quality of health professionals who are less prevalent in rural areas is time-consuming since it is impossible to dismiss current health professionals and training the current health professionals is a long process. Kosmina (2005) also indicates that to improve expertise of nurses is hard as almost only registered nurses work in rural areas and enrolled nurses who are more prevalent are unwilling to work there. Since enrolled nurses prefer to work in a hospital in major cities where could benefit future career life. Those barriers restrain the improvement in the healthcare condition for the rural workforce. Hence, solutions should be arisen to break those barriers so as to meed the rural workforce’s demand for healthcare.

- Ways to Meet the Demand of the Rural Workforce for Healthcare

Figure 2 Supply and Demand Curve of Rural Healthcare[pic 3]

Source: http://www.owen.org/blog/2757

Figure 2 reveals the supply and demand curve of rural healthcare (Barder, 2009). The horizontal axis represents the quantity of the health services, and vertical axis represents the price of healthcare. As shown in this figure, an increase in demand leads to a movement along the supply curve to a higher quantity and price, assuming other factors keep unchanged. Namely, the government or other agencies should devote more funds to supply the all-sided healthcare in rural Australia so as to meet the rural workforce’s demand for healthcare. Therefore, if the demand for healthcare increases, enough funds are required to purchase more medical instruments and hire more medical personnel for the rural workforce.

Several ways to build a healthy community in rural Australia has been found out with the urgent need for better healthcare. What is suggested by Fuller et al (2000) is that skills based health professional training should be supplied for rural health workforce. Fuller et al (2000) claims that it is the best way since it not only meets the demand of the rural workforce for healthcare, but also reduces the demand for medical personnel to some degree. Simultaneously, Kosmina (2005) advises to supply health professionals and sustainable health services for the rural workforce which is the most direct way to build a healthy community in rural areas. Furthermore, Kosmina (2005) asserts that incentives and support programs for rural health professionals should be expanded. In addition, Kosmina (2005) suggests establishing federal and state health regulatory arrangements to deliver rural health workforce services, so that healthcare for the rural workforce can be coordinated and supported across the boundaries of federal and state. More importantly, the South Australian Government (2007) contends that more capital should be invested to rural Australia to achieve the goal of better the healthcare in rural areas. Through those ways, the demand of the rural workforce for healthcare definitely can be met step by step.

- Conclusion

To sum up, the demand of the rural workforce for healthcare has an increasing trend in today’s society. The rural workforce demand for greater healthcare, such as the better emergency department, the more prompt procedures, the high-level specialists and specialist services and the more suitable mental care, to ensure people in rural Australia have the good health condition. But the better healthcare for the rural workforce is hard to supply since there are too many barriers to achieve this goal, like the lack of investment, the few GPs, the poor quality of health professionals and the less prevalent nurses. Consequently, Australian researchers find out several appropriate methods to break those barriers so as to build a healthy community in rural Australia. For example, teach professional skills for the rural workforce, supply health professionals and health services, create programs for health professionals, and release health regulatory arrangements.

- References

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2008, Selected Health Occupations: Australia, 2006, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra, NSW.

Australian Health Workforce Advisory Committee, Australian Medical Workforce Advisory Committee and Australian Health Workforce Officials’ Committee 2005, Demand for health services and the health workforce - Information Paper, no. 3, Australian Health Workforce Advisory Committee and Australian Medical Workforce Advisory Committee, Sydney, NSW.

Fuller, J, Edwards, J, Procter, N & Moss, J 2000, 'How definition of mental health problems can influence help seeking in rural and remote communities', Australian Journal of Rural Health, vol.9, pp.148-153.

Kosmina, S 2005, Productivity Commission Health Workforce Study, Rural Workforce Agency Victoria, Carlton, Vic.

Meagher, R 2008, Hospital performance improves as demand for health services continues to increase, media release, 14 February, NSW Ministry of Health, viewed 8 may 2013, http://www0.health.nsw.gov.au/news/2008/20080214_00.html>.

The South Australian Government 2007, South Australia’s Health Care Plan 2007-2016, The South Australian Government, SA.

Tolhurst, H, Baker, L, Murray, G, Bell, P, Sutton, A & Dean, S 2003, Rural General Practitioner Experience of Work-Related Violence in Australia, Australian Journal of Rural Health, vol. 11, pp.231–236.