Women and Indigenous people living in the bush are having nearly decades of their lives shaved off due to a lack of basic health services, a new report from the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) has revealed.
The Best for the Bush, Rural and Remote Health Base Line 2022 report showed women living in very remote parts of Australia were likely to die 19 years earlier than their city counterparts.
It is a statistic that Rebecka Britton, a long-time resident of remote north-west Queensland community Boulia, finds "incredibly shocking and intimidating".
"It makes me feel like I need to do something about it — that's not OK," she said.
"The problem solving needs to commence because it is extremely challenging trying to access primary health care out here.
"Without the RFDS, we have zero access to health care."
The RFDS report also found that men in very remote areas were likely to die 14 years earlier than those living in the city.
Meanwhile, the health of Indigenous people in the bush was even poorer.
First Nations people accounted for 32 per cent of Australia's remote and very remote population in 2022.
Their life expectancy was 14 years less than their non-Indigenous counterparts, the RFDS report found.
RFDS Federation executive director Frank Quinlan said health systems were failing outback Australians.
"The RFDS are delivering services in areas where other parts of the health system are just not working," he said.
People dying of preventable diseases
The report found that a lack of access to primary health care meant people in the bush were dying from diseases that could be easily managed with basic health services.
The biggest barriers to accessing primary healthcare in the bush, according to the report, were social isolation, poor access to transport, and perceived relative importance of other events, such as harvest time and cultural barriers.
However, the most notable barrier was the absence of primary healthcare services within a reasonable distance, highlighted as being a 60-minute drive from a person’s place of residence.
"Those from rural and remote areas are 2.5 times more likely than those in our cities to be hospitalised for a reason that is potentially preventable," Mr Quinlan said.
The most common reason for an RFDS aeromedical retrieval in 2022 was heart disease (21 per cent), a disease that can be prevented through effective primary health care, the report stated.
The second most common reason for an RFDS call-out was a physical injury (19.1 per cent), which included falls, motor vehicle accidents, assaults, suicide attempts or exposure to chemicals.
Meanwhile, diseases of the digestive system, including gastro-oesophageal reflux, ulcers, appendicitis, bowel issues or diseases of the liver, gall bladder and pancreas, were the third most common reason for an RFDS retrieval, accounting for 10 per cent.
"For Australians living in rural, remote and regional parts, accessing simple services such as a nurse-led clinic, a GP, a dentist or a specialist is much, much harder," Mr Quinlan said.
Push for a national compact
The report called for a binding agreement to combat duplicate and ineffective health services that were recognised as major barriers in the bush.
It was recommended that the federal government lead a "national compact on rural and remote health", to serve as an inter-governmental agreement between the Commonwealth, states and territories, committed to improving the health outcomes of those living in rural and remote Australia.
Additionally, increased government funding was needed to make primary healthcare services more tailored and accessible to rural and remote Australians, the report recommended.
The report stated focused efforts should be made to establish and deliver comprehensive primary healthcare plans for high-risk individuals.
Better data collection was also needed to improve local service planning and improve visibility around the health needs of rural and remote Australians, the report recommended.
"All Australians should expect reasonable access to primary healthcare services no matter where they live," Mr Quinlan said.
