SARRAH's 2025 Federal Election Priorities: Equitable Healthcare for Rural and Remote Australians
SARRAH's election priorities are focused on addressing the healthcare disparities faced by rural and remote Australians. We believe that every Australian, regardless of their location, deserves access to high-quality allied health services to support optimal health and well-being. Our priorities focus on restoring investment in allied health workforce development, and expanding policies and programs that enable the delivery of comprehensive multidisciplinary team-based care to rural and remote Australians.
1. Restoration of Funding for Rural Allied Health Workforce development:
Objective:
2. Expansion of multidisciplinary teams-based healthcare:
3. Support for the Scope of Practice Review:
Objective:
4. Support for the Draft National Allied Health Workforce Strategy:
By implementing these proposals we can ensure that rural and remote Australians receive equitable allied health care compared to their urban counterparts. Restoring funding, expanding policies and programs, and supporting growth of the allied health workforce will build a stronger, healthier future for all Australians.
SARRAH's election priorities are focused on addressing the healthcare disparities faced by rural and remote Australians. We believe that every Australian, regardless of their location, deserves access to high-quality allied health services to support optimal health and well-being. Our priorities focus on restoring investment in allied health workforce development, and expanding policies and programs that enable the delivery of comprehensive multidisciplinary team-based care to rural and remote Australians.
1. Restoration of Funding for Rural Allied Health Workforce development:
Objective:
- Grow the rural allied health workforce to ensure consumers have access to highly skilled healthcare teams.
- Investment in Training: Allocate funds to create allied health rural generalist training positions in Primary Care, Aged Care, and Disability sectors.
- Enhance the delivery of ambulatory care, aged care, and primary care services by funding allied health services to utilise allied health assistants in the delivery of programs such as falls prevention, osteoarthritis chronic care, high-risk foot screening, and aged care reablement and maintenance.
2. Expansion of multidisciplinary teams-based healthcare:
Objective:
- Enable comprehensive, team-based multidisciplinary care for rural and remote Australians.
- Policy Development: Support and enable access to multidisciplinary team care in rural and remote communities by addressing barriers faced by consumers seeking help to manage chronic disease.
- Funding Allocation: Expand access to allied health services through Medicare by increasing the number and funding of sessions available under MBS allied health chronic disease management services for services such as podiatry, occupational therapy, psychology, dietetics, and other allied health professions.
3. Support for the Scope of Practice Review:
Objective:
- Remove barriers and enable health professionals to work to their full scope of practice.
- Implementation of Recommendations: We advocate for the adoption of the 18 recommendations from the review, which focus on workforce design, development, education, planning, legislation, regulation, funding, and policy enablers
- Multidisciplinary Teams: Promote examples of multidisciplinary teams working to their full scope of practice to deliver best practice primary care
4. Support for the Draft National Allied Health Workforce Strategy:
Objective:
- Address the shortage of allied health professionals and align workforce supply with current and future needs.
Action Plan:
- Strategy Endorsement: Finalise the draft strategy and translate recommendations to policy and funding commitments that enhance the impact of allied health professionals, improve workforce data and planning, and build a sustainable workforce
- Stakeholder Engagement: Continue to engage with stakeholders to ensure the strategy addresses the unique needs of rural and remote communities
By implementing these proposals we can ensure that rural and remote Australians receive equitable allied health care compared to their urban counterparts. Restoring funding, expanding policies and programs, and supporting growth of the allied health workforce will build a stronger, healthier future for all Australians.