National rural health strategy must be on National Cabinet agenda

Dozens of organisations are pushing for a national rural health strategy, which would place all regional health policies under one umbrella.

National Rural Health Alliance chief executive Susi Tegan said the proposal would create standards that would hold politicians accountable, comparing it to the Bridging The Gap targets.

"Right now, it's like the government has a checklist in its head, but it's not accountable to anyone," Ms Tegen said.

"If you don't have a strategy, you can't benchmark and you can't see how to improve."

Rural health policies are often chopped and changed or shuffled from one area of government to another, making it difficult to track progress. A recent report by the Alliance found there was an annual under spend of $6.5-billion on health in the regions.

READ MORE: Rural patients waiting weeks & travelling 150km for medical care

"The last 30 years have not worked because there has been no holistic strategy and no coordination," Ms Tegen said.

"A national strategy would need state government cooperation, but there is no reason why the federal government can't lead the charge."

The National Farmers' Federation and Nationals leader David Littleproud have backed the call to discuss the strategy at the next National Cabinet.

"Regional Australians get sicker more often and die sooner than other Australians," Mr Littleproud said.

"It's time for the federal government and governments of all persuasions to refocus on regional health.

"That needs commitment and coordination, and that's where National Cabinet can achieve better outcomes for regional Australia."

Nationals MP and Coalition regional health spokeswomen Anne Webster has been holding round tables across the country to prepare a national rural health strategy for the Opposition.

"I'll die with my boots on in order to see the change we need to have across regional Australia," Dr Webster said.

"We need to see this through a regional lens, so we can have a system that actually works for regional communities."

The nation's rural communities are littered with stories of towns losing a doctor or midwife and being unable to replace them.

READ MORE: Rural patients missing $850 a yr in healthcare access

In the community of Murrayville-Pinnaroo, which straddles the Victoria-South Australia border, the local nurse practitioner has been forced to eat into their superannuation to keep the healthcare service alive.

"There would be no health service in the region otherwise - that's an appalling situation and we must do better," Dr Webster said.

Regional Health Minister Emma McBride would not commit to the Albanese government raising a regional health strategy at the next National Cabinet.

"We already work closely with stakeholders, with states and territory governments to ensure whatever we do is evidence-based and evaluated," Ms McBride said.

Ms McBridge said the Office of the National Rural Health Commissioner already played a role in developing frameworks to assist the Commonwealth improve health outcomes in the regions.

The National Rural Health Alliance represents almost 50 regional health organisations, Ms Tegen said, and if the government was listening to stakeholders, it would heed the group's call.

"I'm hopeful, this government does seem to have an appetite to review and reform

"We've had so many different senate inquiries, reviews and research papers, we don't need more of that. We know what needs to be done, we just need it to be implemented."