Abstract

Rural health workforce response to Australia’s recent natural disasters and emergencies, with a focus COVID-19

Part of Special Series: WONCA World Rural Health Conference Abstracts 2022go to url

AUTHORS

name here
Shannon Nott
1 Rural Health Director of Medical Services for the Western NSW Local Health District, Medical Advisor for NSW Rural Doctors Network *

name here
Richard Colbran
2 Chief Executive Officer

name here
Mike Edwards
3 Bachelor of Science, Director, Service Delivery

CORRESPONDENCE

*Dr Shannon Nott

AFFILIATIONS

1 NSW Rural Doctors Network, Hamilton, NSW, Australia; and Western NSW Local Health District, Dubbo, NSW, Australia

2, 3 NSW Rural Doctors Network, Hamilton, NSW, Australia

PUBLISHED

10 January 2023 Volume 23 Issue 1

HISTORY

RECEIVED: 20 September 2022

ACCEPTED: 20 September 2022

CITATION

Nott S, Colbran R, Edwards M.  Rural health workforce response to Australia’s recent natural disasters and emergencies, with a focus COVID-19. Rural and Remote Health 2023; 23: 8130. https://doi.org/10.22605/RRH8130

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONSgo to url

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

go to urlCited by

no pdf available, use your browser's print function to create one


abstract:

Introduction: Australia has recently been heavily impacted by natural disasters and emergencies including drought, bushfire, floods and COVID-19. The New South Wales Rural Doctors Network (RDN) and partners developed and implemented strategies to support the primary health care response during this challenging time.

Methods: Strategies included the establishment of an inter-sectoral working group of 35 government and non-government agencies, a stakeholder survey, a rapid literature review, and broad consultation aimed at understanding the impacts of natural disasters and emergencies on primary health care services and workforce in rural NSW.

Results: Several key initiatives were established, including the RDN COVID-19 Workforce Response Register and #RuralHealthTogether, a website to support the wellbeing of rural health practitioners. Other strategies included financial support for practices, technology enabled service support and a Natural Disaster and Emergency Learnings Report.

Discussion: The cooperation and coordination of 35 government and non-government agencies led to development of infrastructure to support the crisis response to COVID-19 and other natural disasters and emergencies in an integrated way. Benefits included consistency of messaging, coordination of support locally and regionally, sharing of resources and collation of localised data to inform coordination and planning. Stronger primary healthcare engagement in emergency response pre-planning is required to ensure maximum benefit and use of established resources and infrastructure. This case study shows the value and applicability of an integrated approach to support primary healthcare services and workforce when responding to natural disasters and emergencies.

You might also be interested in:

2018 - Exploring roles and capacity development of village midwives in Sudanese communities

2013 - Findings and lessons learned from a multi-partner collaboration to increase cervical cancer prevention efforts in Bolivia

2012 - Reply to Comment on: Medical students on long-term regional and rural placements: what is the financial cost to supervisors?

This PDF has been produced for your convenience. Always refer to the live site https://www.rrh.org.au/journal/article/8130 for the Version of Record.