That ICPA (Aust) requests that the relevant ministers and government departments extend the current scheme to reduce Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) debt for rural doctors and nurse practitioners to include all health professionals who work in rural, remote or very remote areas of Australia including those who work with geographically isolated children with specific education needs.
While we applaud the Federal Government for recognizing the importance of having qualified doctors and nurse practitioners in areas that are sometimes a very long way from medical services, we believe that nurses, physios, speech pathologists, psychologists and many other health professionals also need to be living in rural and remote areas as well to fully understand the needs of their client base and provide an essential service.
If this incentive were offered to all health professionals, we would see a reduction in patient travel to big cities as there would be much more chance of seeing a qualified professional not so far from home. We don’t believe that this offer needs to be extended to all professions who have Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) debts as for instance seeing a solicitor, accountant, surveyor or a banker can certainly happen on a yearly basis and can be planned, whereas health emergencies and health problems cannot.
It is a well-known fact that a Speech Pathologist plays a pivotal role in the identification and management of specific needs issues in children which will enable educational development. In a rural area, while not defined as a “health care emergency”, a delay in seeking the help and advice of a Speech Pathologist is having a profound impact on these student’s education and many families in rural areas simply cannot afford to travel with their children to big cities for face-to-face consults and therefore they miss out completely. HELP debt relief for all health professionals would certainly be useful in recruitment and retention of these workers for the benefit of geographically isolated children.
