|
Report of the
|
|
||
Rural and remote populations
|
|
|
Report of the
|
|
||
Rural and remote populations
|
Across Australia, people living in rural and remote areas have worse health generally than those living in metropolitan areas. Many factors contribute to this differential, including geographic isolation, socioeconomic disadvantage, shortage of health care providers, lower levels of access to health services, greater exposure to injury risks, and Aboriginal health needs (AIHW, 2004a). Other chapters in this report present breakdowns of health measures according to health area of residence, and compare grouped urban and rural health areas. Although useful for highlighting areas for action, such analyses do not explore the effect of remoteness on health, because they do not take into account the actual distances that individuals live from health and other facilities and services.
This chapter presents a range of health indicators for NSW according to Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) Remoteness categories, NSW health areas, and Regional Co-ordination Management Group (RCMG) regions.
ASGC Remoteness was released in 2001 by the ABS, and was based on the Accessibility-Remoteness Index of Australia Plus (ARIA+) index, which was developed by the National Key Centre for Social Applications of Geographic Information Systems(GISCA). ARIA+ index values (between 0 and 15) are based on road distance from a locality to the closest service centre in each of five classes of population size. ASGC Remoteness categories are assigned to Census Collection Districts (CDs) on the basis of the average ARIA+ score within the CD. An assessment of remoteness in larger areas (such as Statistical Local Areas; SLAs) can then be made on the basis of the ASGC Remoteness categories allocated to the CDs making up that area. ASGC Remoteness categorises areas as 'major cities', 'inner regional', 'outer regional', 'remote' and 'very remote'(AIHW, 2004b).
There are 10 RCMG regions in NSW which were defined by the NSW Premier's Department as part of the Regional Coordination Program (RCP). RCMG regions are aggregates of Local Government Areas (LGAs). RCMG regions were implemented to help coordinate NSW government effort at a regional level to maximise benefits to local communities.
NSW Health is working to improve the provision of health services in small rural and remote communities through providing telehealth services; rural nursing initiatives such as the Nurse Practitioner Services; workforce initiatives such as the Area of Need Program; transport initiatives such as the Isolated Patients' Travel and Accommodation Scheme and implementation of the Transport for Health Initiative; health service infrastructure development through the NSW Rural Hospital and Health Service Program.
The NSW Rural Health Report, released in September 2002, was developed by a group of clinicians, health service managers and consumers. In response, the NSW Government released the NSW Rural Health Plan which included initiatives to address three fundamental issues: attracting and retaining health care professionals; providing certainty and security for services provided in rural areas; and providing services closer to where rural people live. Work is underway on the initiatives in the Report.
Since the release of the Plan, a range of clinical services in rural NSW have been expanded including renal, critical care and cardiology services with the opening of three cardiac catheterisation laboratories, orthopaedics and additional oncology clinics. The NSW Institute of Rural Clinical Services and Teaching was established to support rural health staff by facilitating the networking of services and clinicians and providing opportunities to trial new models of services delivery and undertake collaborative research. The NSW Rural Health Priority Taskforce was established in 2003 to monitor and advise on progress in implementing the NSW Rural Health Plan.
| For more information: |
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Australia's health 2004. Canberra: AIHW, 2004. Available at: www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10014 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Rural, Regional and Remote Health: A guide to remoteness classifications AIHW Catalogue PHE 53, Canberra: AIHW, 2004. Available at www.aihw.gov.au. Australian Bureau of Statistics. ASGC Remoteness Classification: Purpose and Use Census Paper No. 03/01 2003. Available at www.abs.gov.au Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing and the National Key Centre for Social Applications of Geographical Information Systems (GISCA), Accessibility-Remoteness Index of Australia, Occasional papers series no 5. Canberra: Department of Health and Aged Care, 1999 National Key Centre for Social Applications of Geographical Information Systems at www.gisca.adelaide.edu.au NSW Health Rural health at www.health.nsw.gov.au/rural Wearne SM et al. Training our future rural medical workforce. MJA 2004180(3):101-102 |
| Print version: | Although this page can be printed directly from your Web browser, a higher quality version of this entire page (graph, table and text) is available as an Acrobat PDF file which can be printed or viewed on screen using free software. |
| Copyright notice: | This work is copyright NSW Department of Health, 2006. It may be reproduced in whole or in part, subject to the inclusion of an acknowledgement of the source. Commercial usage or sale is prohibited. |
| Suggested citation: | Population Health Division. The health of the people of New South Wales - Report of the Chief Health Officer. Sydney: NSW Department of Health. Available at: http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/public-health/chorep/rur/rur_intro.htm. Accessed (insert date of access). |
| Produced by: | Centre for Epidemiology and Research, Population Health Division, NSW Department of Health. |
| Last updated on: | 4 December 2006 |
|
|
 Top of page
|
 Table of contents
|
|