Availability of Primary Healthcare Services to Australian Communities - Term Paper Example

Primary Healthcare Name University School Course Date Introduction In 2005, WHO member states endorsed a resolution to ensure universal coverage through the provision of promotive, preventive, curative, and rehabilitative healthcare services. In order to realize this, member states were obliged with the responsibility of alleviating all the barriers hampering equitable access to quality healthcare services with a keen focus on the financial constraints. Despite this resolution, various systemic challenges persist and continue to jeopardize access to quality healthcare services (Thomas, Wakerman, & Humphreys, 2015). The Australian communities living in remote and rural areas have a limited access to substandard healthcare services in comparison to their counterparts living in metropolitan cities despite the fact that Australia is one of the countries with a higher life expectancy and better healthcare in the world. Several barriers hamper access to quality and standardized primary healthcare services thus jeopardizing the wellbeing of these communities. Policy makers as well as service planners should have a clear understanding of the thresholds for providing primary healthcare to the general population and facilitate equitable allocation of the essential resources (Falster et al., 2015). Three main factors contribute to the status of poor healthcare services witnessed in the remote and rural areas of Australia. These include limitations that prevent access to quality healthcare services, more risk factors due to low socio-economic capacity, and the circumstances within the remote environments. Despite the fact that the government enacted policies and implemented programs to address the factors limiting access to quality healthcare services, social disparities such as literacy levels, discrimination, poverty, and other systemic inequities continue to undermine the effectiveness of these interventions. Health expenditures incurred by communities living in the remote and rural parts of Australia exacerbate rather than ameliorate the poverty levels of these communities (Freund et al., 2015). According to the National Primary Health Care Strategic Framework established in 2013, the social health determinants affect the communities’ health hence the need for stronger partnerships with various health sector players to address the factors undermining access to quality healthcare. The circumstances within the remote and rural areas of Australia require significant variations in government policies in order to address the challenges undermining the health of rural communities effectively (Gibson et al., 2015). Availability of primary healthcare services to rural Australian communities There are very few health professionals within the remote regions of Australia as well as a limited number of primary healthcare facilities. Some locations lack coverage by a medical doctor, a chemist, or a health facility. However, some regions reportedly have a local surgical unit, a defibrillation center, and a dialysis clinic. Nevertheless, the availability of such services does not meet the requirements of the Australian communities. Patients need to travel longer distances thus incurring huge costs and using more time to access these services (Humphreys & Wakerman, 2008). Notably, the Tasmanian rural communities lack an adequate number of medical specialists who are concentrated within the urban regions. It is interesting that some rural facilities offering basic mental health services lack mental specialists and are only served by mental health social workers. Nevertheless, there are many Australians suffering a wide range of mental problems such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other psychotic disorders but lack access to medical specialists. The inadequate supply of medical specialist cuts across all the disciplines of healthcare including geriatric and pediatric services (Islam, Topp, Day, Dawson, & Conigrave, 2012). The rural communities in Tasmania also lack access to quality dental care services due to the lack of infrastructure for dental care. Very few people in Tasmania get the opportunity to have their teeth checked for any abnormalities and those who experience dental problems only get treatment services from a General Practitioner (GP). Consequently, individuals in dire need of dental services have to travel beyond Tasmania’s jurisdiction thus incurring huge expenditures. Poor families that lack the financial capacity to procure dental services outside of Tasmania continue to suffer the complications of untreated dental problems including loss of teeth (Panaretto, Wenitong, Button, & Ring, 2014). Despite the structural barriers contributing to insufficient provision of primary healthcare services, the rural communities in Tasmania also lack emergency services as well as round the clock primary healthcare services. Improving the quality and availability of the primary healthcare services will be useful in reduction of the associated travel costs in search of healthcare in the urban regions of Australia thus improving the quality of Tasmanian rural communities (Schoen et al., 2012). Accessibility of primary healthcare services Accessibility of primary healthcare services includes aspects like transportation services, disability access, language barriers, and technology based treatment services. In rural Tasmania, the residents lack the essential awareness that a certain range of primary healthcare services exist within their communities. On the other hand, some residents who are aware of the existence of these service lack confidence in their quality and if granted an option will seek for the services elsewhere. Moreover, there are limited public awareness campaigns in rural Tasmania to increase awareness and subsequent uptake of primary healthcare services. Public awareness campaigns also lack effective communication strategies thus leading a low level of awareness of availability of services by these communities (Gibson et al., 2015). The long distances and dispersed nature of the rural population present mobility challenges to rural communities seeking for primary healthcare services. In rural Tasmania, transportation systems are very poor and limited thus making the residents miss their appointments to see the doctor. A significant proportion of Tasmania’s rural population comprises of elderly people who cannot drive themselves to the health facilities thus limiting their access to available healthcare services. These transportation challenges reduce the survival rate of Tasmanian communities in need of distant emergency services and other specialist services (Humphreys & Wakerman, 2008). Affordability of primary healthcare services in rural Australia Affordability of primary healthcare services entails the patient’s ability to pay for the costs involved in accessing the services. Within the rural context of Tasmania, patients incur huge costs as they strive to access available primary healthcare services. The lack of capacity to meet these costs especially by the poor families limits their access to the services. In some instances, the costs incurred to get to the health facilities are higher than the actual cost of the services themselves. Financial constraints present significant barriers to rural communities thus undermining their access to available health services (Islam et al., 2012). In rural Tasmania, the communities seek for dental services from private dentists who are generally expensive thus unaffordable for majority of the patients. The available specialist services are extremely expensive for most of the families struggling to make ends meet. Consequently, due to the prohibitive costs for accessing healthcare, poor families abstain from mainstream healthcare services while resorting to self-care(Schoen et al., 2012). In some parts of Tasmania, the residents undertake training in first aid skills at a cost of 150 USDs so that they are able to care for themselves during emergencies in the absence of qualified medical personnel or unaffordable services. On the other hand, basic trainings such as first aid skills improve the capacity of the community members to recognize some of the health problems affecting their wellbeing and institute corrective measures thus improving their survival. Moreover, the trainees also get to recognize the predisposing factors to their conditions and appropriate interventions for staying healthy lives (Osborn et al., 2015). Equitable access to primary healthcare by Australians in remote and rural areas Communities in the remote and rural communities of Australia have a higher incidence of preventable conditions reflecting poor health services. The number of hospitalizations, mortality rates, and poor health outcomes are prevalent in these communities. The disparities in socio-economic status as well as the higher disease burdens by Australians residing in rural and remote communities are indicative of inequitable access to primary healthcare services (Thomas et al., 2015). In rural and remote communities of Tasmania, there are no adequate resident healthcare providers offering emergency, mental health, palliative care, dental health, maternal and child health, reproductive health, as well as ageing and disability services. Consequently, the government is implementing priorities aimed at increasing the availability of these services at the community level by establishing effective population thresholds that warrant provision of core services or functional health facilities (Britt et al., 2013). Acceptability of primary healthcare services in remote and rural Australia Despite the challenges limiting accessibility, availability, and affordability of primary healthcare services, majority of individuals living in rural Australia are content with their experiences while accessing healthcare services. Notably, the residents are aware of the negative influence caused by the circumstances within the remote and rural set ups and thus very optimistic when they access quality services. In fact, majority of them do not expect to find quality services within the primary healthcare facilities or qualified and friendly healthcare personnel (Gunn et al., 2012). The residents sympathize with the health practitioners working within the remote and rural setups being fully aware of the enormous pressures with a limited workforce. In some instances, community members have devised strategies to support the healthcare personnel in executing their functions by alleviating the perceived challenges. In most cases, the service providers in these setups receive positive compliments from community members who recognize the prevailing challenges orchestrated by the circumstances of geographical remoteness. The community members are at the forefront in calling upon the government to improve the quality of service provision by improving the working environment of resident health personnel (Kavanagh & Krnjacki, 2012). Appropriateness of primary healthcare services The primary healthcare services offered in the remote and rural communities living in Tasmania do not adequately address the needs of the residents. Primary healthcare services should be appropriate in consideration of the population’s diversities in age, gender, as well as socio-economic status. Some regions with a high concentration of elderly people lack geriatric and other ageing services presenting additional barriers that hamper access to primary healthcare by these populations (Thomas et al., 2015). In other instances, the available primary healthcare services are too expensive hence beyond the reach of local communities. The limited number of General Practitioners who do not adequately meet the needs of these communities serves the communities. Despite the availability, accessibility, and affordability of the services, they remain largely inappropriate to the communities who have specific needs that cannot be addressed by the existing services (Runciman et al., 2012). Suggestions for improving the quality of primary healthcare in rural Australia There is need to nurture an efficient relationship between accessibility and availability of primary healthcare services. The government should implement the nurse practitioner model that will increase the number of highly skilled nurses offering primary healthcare services to rural communities in Australia thus bridging the overstretched number of General Practitioners. This will ensure that communities in rural Australia access specialized services offered by nurse practitioners. The services offered by nurse practitioners include emergency services, diabetes services, basic cancer services, management of childhood illnesses, geriatric services, treatment of common conditions, and basic surgical services during emergencies (Lê, Nguyen, Auckland, Hoang, & Terry, 2012). Due to the scarcity of affordable dental services to communities in rural Australia, establishment of mobile dental clinics in partnership with the communities will improve the access and availability of these services. Such services should be available within the rural communities on specified days depending on their demand, which must be properly communicated to facilitate access. Another approach involves enhancing the community’s capacity for self-care through basic skills trainings. These include aspects of first aid during emergencies especially in very remote areas that are geographically isolated. Moreover, this will enhance the awareness of rural communities about their health and promoting healthy behaviors thus improving their quality of life. Self-care trainings should have reliable protocols that enable the individual to call for help in the event the situation overwhelms their capacity. The government should also move in and identify partnership opportunities that can reduce or subsidize the costs of such trainings to the rural communities (Lê et al., 2012). The government should increase the support provided to health centers serving rural communities and enhance their capacity to provide essential healthcare services such as dialysis, dental care, defibrillation, hydrotherapy, mental services, and conduct effective public awareness campaigns to sensitize communities on the availability of these services. In addition, there is need to improve the local communities as well as the business environment that will attract quality healthcare services through investments in the rural areas. This will reduce the need to seek for services outside the rural communities thus lowering healthcare expenditures (Lê et al., 2012; Thomas et al., 2015). Conclusion Generally, communities living in the remote and rural parts of Australia have poor healthcare standards as evidenced by the higher levels of illnesses, higher rates of hospitalization, and the high prevalence of risk factors for poor health. Rural Australia communities record significantly higher incidences of deaths resulting from coronary heart disorders, cardiovascular illnesses, road traffic accidents, suicide, diabetes, lung, colorectal, and prostate cancers. Limited access to primary healthcare services remains a major contributor to the dismal state of affairs hence the need for more comprehensive programs to correct the situation. The population density in rural Australia is lower but sparsely distributed in comparison to urban Australia. In addition, rural Australia has less labor as well as economic resources, and travel longer distances to access healthcare services. Moreover, these communities have a poor understanding of health, exhibit a self-reliance culture, have risky behaviors, and are more conservative with heightened confidentiality concerns thus further disadvantaging their access to primary healthcare services. References Britt, H., Miller, G. C., Henderson, J., Bayram, C., Valenti, L., Harrison, C., … others. (2013). General Practice Activity in Australia 2012-13: BEACH: Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health. Sydney University Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=aDFZAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=primary+healthcare+in+Australia+2013&ots=ZXwyuv43wu&sig=vKOOmXGcGxOqPf7N3DKIqidDG1s Falster, M. O., Jorm, L. R., Douglas, K. A., Blyth, F. M., Elliott, R. F., & Leyland, A. H. (2015). Sociodemographic and health characteristics, rather than primary care supply, are major drivers of geographic variation in preventable hospitalizations in Australia. Medical Care, 53(5), 436–445. 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Thomas, S. L., Wakerman, J., & Humphreys, J. S. (2015). Ensuring equity of access to primary health care in rural and remote Australia-what core services should be locally available? International Journal for Equity in Health, 14(1), 111.  Read More