NSW Legislative Assembly Select Committee on Remote, Rural and Regional Health Inquiry into the Implementation of Portfolio Committee No 2 recommendations relating to workforce issues, workplace culture and funding considerations for remote, rural and regional health – SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION RESPONSE
1. Your submission promotes the Primary Care Rural Integrated Multidisciplinary Health Services (PRIM-HS) as a place-based model for rural health care (pp.7-8).
a) What role could this model play in developing and strengthening the regional health workforce?
At its core, the PRIM-HS model has been developed as a health workforce intervention. It aims to address the three categories of barriers to regional, rural and remote health workforce recruitment and retention, as we see them – professional, financial and social. The environment and population have changed significantly over the last 30 years, but policy, strategy and funding have not. Indeed, it does not reflect what works in rural communities and has resulted in underservicing and lack of access for a population needed for Australia’s economic well-being.