1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,120
Speaker 1: But now we do know that we've spoken a lot

2
00:00:02,160 --> 00:00:04,600
Speaker 1: on this show about the workforce shortages that we're seeing

3
00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:06,960
Speaker 1: around the Northern Territory when it comes to just about

4
00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:10,160
Speaker 1: every sector. But one sector that we've spoken a lot

5
00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:13,840
Speaker 1: about is health. Now, new research which links the amount

6
00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,200
Speaker 1: of training time spent in rural areas with the odds

7
00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:21,320
Speaker 1: of general practitioners working in rural and remote areas has

8
00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:22,280
Speaker 1: today been published.

9
00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:24,279
Speaker 2: Now, it's been published in the American.

10
00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:28,240
Speaker 1: Journal of Graduate Medical Education by a senior research fellow

11
00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:31,320
Speaker 1: from MENSI School of Health, and the study addresses an

12
00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:35,080
Speaker 1: urgent need to understand how to increase the likelihood of

13
00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:38,360
Speaker 1: junior doctors choosing to practice as GPS in.

14
00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:39,839
Speaker 2: Rural or remote areas.

15
00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:42,560
Speaker 1: Now, joining me on the line to talk further about

16
00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:47,120
Speaker 1: this is the lead author, mensi's senior research fellow, doctor

17
00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:47,920
Speaker 1: Deborah Russell.

18
00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:49,400
Speaker 2: Good morning to you, doctor Russell.

19
00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:52,760
Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, thanks for having me on your show.

20
00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:55,240
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time. Now, why did

21
00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:57,200
Speaker 1: you decide to undertake this research?

22
00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:05,120
Speaker 3: Oh, look, I've been working investigating ural health workforce issues

23
00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:09,800
Speaker 3: in Australia for quite a number of years. Now. Look,

24
00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:13,960
Speaker 3: workforce male distribution, medical workforce, male distribution is one of

25
00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:19,240
Speaker 3: the key issues facing our health system and getting equitable

26
00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:22,080
Speaker 3: health outcome. So you know, that's what I guess drives

27
00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:24,240
Speaker 3: drives my interest in that area of work here.

28
00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:27,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I suppose you know, when we look at Australia,

29
00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:29,200
Speaker 1: I'm sure that you know if you live in a

30
00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:31,360
Speaker 1: capital city, if you live anywhere. Really at the moment

31
00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:33,920
Speaker 1: people have been saying that they've got issues with workforce.

32
00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:37,080
Speaker 1: But when you go more regional or remote and you're

33
00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:42,080
Speaker 1: looking at the health sector, particularly gps and doctors, it's

34
00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:44,000
Speaker 1: pretty tough going right now.

35
00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:44,160
Speaker 2: Isn't it.

36
00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:49,840
Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely, Look with regard to rural medical workforce that

37
00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,440
Speaker 3: you know, there have been issues there for many, many

38
00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:57,120
Speaker 3: years and they haven't been resolved, and I think the

39
00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:02,600
Speaker 3: pandemic has highlighted, you know, how precarious the situation is.

40
00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:06,920
Speaker 1: And doctor Russell, I understand that the research shows that

41
00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:10,240
Speaker 1: when junior doctors do their GP training in rural and

42
00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:14,680
Speaker 1: remote areas, they're more likely to then subsequently decide to

43
00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:16,040
Speaker 1: work in rural areas.

44
00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:17,960
Speaker 2: Do we do a lot of.

45
00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:22,320
Speaker 1: This training in rural and remote areas in Australia?

46
00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:25,760
Speaker 3: Oh yes, it's o Katie. It's not a straightforward answer.

47
00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:29,840
Speaker 3: So the period of time that the American study looked

48
00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:34,239
Speaker 3: at was the first three years after a doctor graduates,

49
00:02:34,639 --> 00:02:39,200
Speaker 3: and during this period of time there's actually a gap

50
00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:44,919
Speaker 3: in rural training exposures. For Australian graduates, we do much

51
00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:47,760
Speaker 3: better than the US a bit later in the training. So,

52
00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:54,480
Speaker 3: for example, when an Australian graduate trains to become a GP,

53
00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:58,519
Speaker 3: so it becomes a GP registrar, there's a requirement that

54
00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:04,560
Speaker 3: half of the training of registrars in Australia occurs in

55
00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:06,799
Speaker 3: rural areas. So we actually do much better than the

56
00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:09,680
Speaker 3: US then, but we have this big gap in you know,

57
00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:14,800
Speaker 3: the time before the doctor gets into GP training.

58
00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:15,280
Speaker 2: Yeah.

59
00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,440
Speaker 1: Right, So based on the research that you've done, you

60
00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:20,919
Speaker 1: know what kind of impact is this having on places

61
00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:23,239
Speaker 1: like the Northern Territory.

62
00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:33,680
Speaker 3: Look in the Northern Territory, there's been issues with getting

63
00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:40,280
Speaker 3: enough doctors interested in general practice and entering into GP

64
00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:43,880
Speaker 3: into the GP training program. So you know, over the

65
00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:50,080
Speaker 3: last probably five or six years, the numbers of doctors

66
00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:52,520
Speaker 3: entering GP training has halved in the Northern characties. So

67
00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:55,480
Speaker 3: it used to be about over sixty it's now come

68
00:03:55,560 --> 00:04:00,520
Speaker 3: back as far as I know to be around about thirty. Yeah,

69
00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:04,720
Speaker 3: so and you know the non territory reflects what's happening

70
00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:08,400
Speaker 3: across Australia. So across Australia there's been a declining interest

71
00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:12,680
Speaker 3: in in doctors wanting to become GPS for a whole

72
00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:18,760
Speaker 3: range of reasons. But you know, it doesn't leave our

73
00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:24,240
Speaker 3: future GP workforce in good shape really, you know, it

74
00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:25,440
Speaker 3: is really quite concerning.

75
00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:27,400
Speaker 2: And so what do you reckon we need to look

76
00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:28,479
Speaker 2: at doing differently?

77
00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:34,159
Speaker 3: Well, I think I think that that space where there's

78
00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:40,799
Speaker 3: a gap in Australia for getting doctors out into rural

79
00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:45,919
Speaker 3: communities and particularly into family into general practice type settings

80
00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:49,400
Speaker 3: when they first graduate, I think that that's a key

81
00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:55,240
Speaker 3: you know, policy that could change and make to making privacy.

82
00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:58,200
Speaker 3: It used to be a program that did that and

83
00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:02,039
Speaker 3: it was quite effective, but it was defunded probably know

84
00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:04,359
Speaker 3: five or six years ago something like that, and you

85
00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:08,040
Speaker 3: know since then that the issues with getting doctors to

86
00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:16,000
Speaker 3: be interested in general practice has been increasingly a problem.

87
00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,359
Speaker 1: But it's so important, right, I mean, it's so important

88
00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:22,440
Speaker 1: that we've got enough GPS working in our communities. You know,

89
00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:26,400
Speaker 1: we're like in the rural and regional sort of areas

90
00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:29,559
Speaker 1: in terms of keeping an eye on people and looking

91
00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:31,719
Speaker 1: after people before they get to that point where they're

92
00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:34,520
Speaker 1: needing to present to the hospital or needing to go

93
00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:35,560
Speaker 1: for further care.

94
00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:40,480
Speaker 3: I absolutely totally agree with what you're saying, Katie. GPS

95
00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:44,760
Speaker 3: and primary healthcare generally sort of the foundations of our

96
00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:48,440
Speaker 3: primary healthcare system and our health system. So you know,

97
00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:54,600
Speaker 3: if we don't have good primary healthcare, then patients end

98
00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:58,159
Speaker 3: up going into hospital more than what they should. So

99
00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:02,400
Speaker 3: if we're going to improve the fairnest equity of health

100
00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:05,640
Speaker 3: outcomes for Australian population who really need to have good

101
00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:11,120
Speaker 3: general practice, there's good evidence to show that probably healthcare

102
00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:12,920
Speaker 3: works to improve our health.

103
00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:16,880
Speaker 1: Well, we really appreciate your time this morning and appreciate

104
00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:19,000
Speaker 1: your sort of going through that research with us. Doctor

105
00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:21,360
Speaker 1: Deborah Russell, thank you so much for having a chat

106
00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:21,839
Speaker 1: this morning.

107
00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:24,599
Speaker 3: Pleasure Katie, thank you, thank you.

108
00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:24,919
Speaker 2: Thanks