Permanent telehealth announced, but rural medical expert says it's only a 'patchwork solution'

Whilst Coonabarabran-based GP and Warrumbungle Shire Council deputy mayor Dr Aniello Iannuzzi said telehealth definitely plays an important role, he labelled it a "patchwork solution" to long-term issues crippling rural health.

"It's only second best compared to seeing a doctor face-to-face, we shouldn't be under any illusion that telemedicine is going to solve our problems," he said.

"We need doctors to be living, working and investing in these towns, and we've got to have a Medicare system and a hospital system that makes that viable, rewarding and fulfilling, otherwise doctors will just stay in their comfort zone and never leave the cities."

Medicare-funded virtual telehealth consults were introduced at the height of COVID-19 last year, now the federal government is investing $106 million to make it permanent.

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Dr Aniello, who is the Chair of the Australian Doctors' Federation and was recently named the recipient of the Bill Hunter Award by the Rural Doctors' Association NSW for his 25 years of dedication to rural health, said there are two main setbacks to attracting more GPs to the bush.

"Neither one is the ultimate answer, but number one is Medicare is really failing," he said.

"For rural practices - especially the general practice as a whole - the remuneration structure of Medicare has fallen way behind the cost of running a practice.

"So what we're seeing is that GPs and young doctors are making a deliberate choice not to go into general practice at the moment."

Dr Iannuzzi said Medicare rebates needs to be "at least double, if not triple" what they are now to make bulk billing viable.

"Otherwise the government has to accept that we have a need to be charging significant gaps to our patients, and they're quite unwilling to do that," he added.

Under-resourced and under-staffed hospitals are also a fundamental issue that needs to be addressed in order to make rural areas a fulfilling place for doctors to work, he said.

"Doctors seeking to forge a career in rural medicine get frustrated that they go to a lot of trouble to train themselves and then they turn up to these towns and they can't work in a safe and fulfilling manner because the hospitals are so poorly run and so poorly resourced," he said.

"It's a two-prong solution - you can't fix Medicare without fixing the hospitals and you can't fix the hospitals without Medicare."

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