IT’S no secret that rural patients suffer a disproportionately greater number of poor health outcomes compared to their city counterparts.
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They experience poorer access to health services compared to those living in cities and they have to travel considerable distances to access services.
The number of available doctors including specialists is considerably lower in rural areas.
And following from this, there are no little or no ‘volume practices’, meaning generalists are often performing specialised practices with far less experience (and therefore skill) than those in the city.
Only last month, the Federal government has introduced a new statutory position, the National Rural Health Commissioner, which the government says will champion rural health reform.
While the focus on rural and regional health outcomes is greatly welcomed, any progress is likely to a be a long way off as we don’t yet know what we are dealing with.
There is no official record keeping of the numbers of deaths or adverse incidents across the country and certainly not in rural areas where we do know that individuals have shorter life spans.
There’s been a bit of dabbling with the production of hospital death statistics by some states but no state or the federal government routinely publishes this information for its hospitals.
And the agency charged with this role, the National Health Performance Authority, refuses to release data on death rates in Australia’s hospitals.
It cites the reason that, like rail gauges in the 19th century, the situation in each state is different with each hospital coding adverse events differently.
Compare this with the situtation in England or the United States where it’s a case of simply typing your postcode into a government website to obtain adjusted death rates for a range of local hospitals.
As an experienced medical lawyer, I see first hand the impact of disproportionately poor health resourcing for rural and regional residents.
I see too many negligence cases and inquests involving death and serious injury for people right across regional NSW.
I also see the link between people choosing to stand up and take legal action, and improved standards of professional responsibility and patient safety.
Kind regards,
Catherine Henry
REGISTERING IMPORTANCE
AFTER a recent serious fall, my aged mother is (fortunately) living proof there is a need for a digital register of shared health data.
Her life was balanced in the intensive care unit by a capable team resting on weak and unreliable data from various family members.
In a crisis situation where every moment counts and when multiple injuries, past accidents and current treatments for various illnesses are all impacting, it is difficult to evaluate the correct procedure and immediate focus without all the information.
A digital register of shared health would enable immediate access to all current and past treatments, names of current doctors and specialists for consultation and current medications and an immediate growth in confidence in treatment.
The bottom line is that a digital register can save lives.