MEDIA RELEASE 17 May 2013

Regional QLD deserves better gift for RFDS 85th birthday

The Federal Governments inaction over a flawed incentive scheme for regional doctors has adversely impacted on Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) recruitment in remote Queensland. RFDS Deputy General Manager, Health Services (Qld Section), Anita Hansen has joined calls by the Rural Doctors Association (RDA) to immediately reform the scheme. The payment incentives are supposed to help address a doctor shortage in rural and remote areas but the schemes not working, Ms Hansen said. There is not enough distinction between areas such as Townsville and Emerald. Doctors can live in large coastal cities and still get an incentive payment instead of heading to small remote towns which are crying out for local doctors. That means RFDS has to rely on fly-in, fly-out doctors which should be a last resort. The RFDS celebrates its 85th Anniversary this year and Queensland CEO Nino Di Marco has high expectations of rapid growth. RFDS is a Queensland-born, national icon and we should be proud of how far its come, Mr Di Marco said. 85 years ago, we started out treating about 200 patients each year, now its more than 85,000 all over the state. Our pilots fly about eight million kilometres annually but we also delivery health and dental clinics by road, phone, video-conference and online. We know exactly what rural and remote patients want and need, and are excited about getting opportunities to expand as the Queensland Government outsources more health services. Visit www.flyingdoctor.org.au for more information. MEDIA CONTACT: Barbara Cox, Sequel Communications - 0403 090 913 or 07 3251 8111.