PLANS to build an integrated primary health education precinct at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange will help address the problem of doctor shortages in country towns like Blayney, according to local rural health advocate Audrey Hardman.
Mrs Hardman has been busy trying to advance the plans in her role as chair of the CSU medical program consultative committee, where she works alongside key rural health stakeholders in trying to lobby governments to cough up the estimated $98 million needed for the project.
If established, the proposed precinct would offer medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, clinical science, physiotherapy, advanced practice nursing, nutrition, occupational therapy, social work, nutrition and dietetics training to country students.
"We are desperately short of doctors in the country and working on training the next generation of medical professionals out in the country would certainly help in addressing that shortage over the long term," said Mrs Hardman.
The proposed training facility would allow CSU to double the number of health related courses offered to students living in rural Australia while also offering a newly designed curriculum that integrates learning across health, medical and human services disciplines.
CSU has agreed to spend $20 million on the project but is asking the federal government to spend $98 million to build the required facilities.
The university has also asked the government to fund 80 new medical student places at the facility.
In December 2010 CSU sent the federal government a detailed proposal seeking the funding but in the 13 months since have made little progress on the issue.
"When the Minister for Regional Australia, Simon Crean, came to Bathurst he said that if rural communities came up with solutions that 'stacked up' the Gillard Government would back them," Ms Hardman said.
"CSU has come up with a solution that that regional communities agree will work. It is now time for the Prime Minister and Federal Health Minister to honor their commitment to regional Australia, so CSU can get on with the job of training more doctors and health professionals for rural Australia."
Mrs Hardman said it has been acknowledged that training rural students to be doctors and health professionals in rural areas is a successful approach to increasing the number of doctors and health professionals in those areas.
"More than 70% of CSU's current health students are from rural and remote areas, and more than 80% of these commence employment in rural areas," she said.
For the project to go ahead, CSU would also need the NSW government to commit to guaranteeing equal access to NSW public hospitals and resources on the same terms as all other medical programs in the state.
In May 2011, Regional Australia Minister Simon Cream said the only reason the federal government hasn't approved the establishment of the new medical school is because the NSW government hasn't guaranteed access to medical training places in state hospitals.
Buck passing between the federal and state governments hasn't deterred Mrs Hardman and other supporters of the CSU proposal from continuing their campaign to ensure words are turned into action.
A Doctors 4 the Bush campaign has been created to help boost public support for the plans and put further pressure on governments to support the project.
"We have almost 8,000 signatures on a petition from every day rural Australians backing the university's proposal and more are flooding in daily," Mrs Hardman said.
To throw your support behind the campaign drop into the Blayney Chronicle's office and sign the campaign petition or visit doctors4thebush.org.au
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