Health service provision in rural and remote areas: a needs analysis.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the health service needs of rural and remote populations and to examine the relationship between these needs as obtained from available data and as perceived by community general practitioners (GPs) and other health providers.


METHODS
Existing census and research data were used to study the Huon and Channel health district of South-East Tasmania. Primary data collection consisted of structured interviews with medical practitioners and community representatives.


RESULTS
Serious health problems are widespread in rural and remote areas as a result of socioeconomic conditions arising from economic recession and unemployment and pre-existing lifestyle and cultural attitudes towards health, low educational levels, isolation and lack of transport. General practice and primary health care provision follow urbanisation and decrease with increasing distance from a major rural centre, as do the incidence of poverty and worsening health problems.


CONCLUSIONS
Most primary health care in rural and remote areas is provided by GPs, with curative services predominating. The health service patterns conform to lower socioeconomic patterns in that preventive health is given in low priority. Preventive health programs should tie in with curative health service provision, making use of the resources already available within the communities. The primary role taken by rural GPs in health service provision demands that they take a pivotal role in preventive health service delivery.
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners-Tasmania Faculty, New Town.
P
P
Dunne
C
C
Patterson
M
M
Kilmartin
M
M
Sladden
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment; D005194:Family Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006767:Hospitals, District; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012423:Rural Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013648:Tasmania / Q000453:epidemiology; D000095283:Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples