Thinking of travelling to your holiday home or a rural destination for Easter or the school holidays? Think again. That’s the warning today from ACRRM and the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA), as they urge all Australians to stay put at their usual place of residence and maintain strict social distancing practices.

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The advent of COVID-19 has reinforced the importance for ACRRM to deliver Australia’s first government-funded Rural Generalist (RG)Training Program this year.

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The National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce has launched the new “living guidelines”. These guidelines will provide evidence-based guidance to clinicians caring for people with COVID-19.

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The Department of Health has reported that, based on forecast demand from the states and territories, it is well placed to meet forecast demand for influenza vaccine, including for the National Immunisation Program and to respond to any increased demand that may arise this year.

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While there are very early signs that the curve is beginning to flatten on COVID-19, there is an extraordinarily long way to go - and rural and remote Australians must not become complacent in slowing its spread, or more people will die.

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ACRRM President Dr Ewen McPhee is at the forefront of COVID-19 preparation, opening Australia’s first rural COVID-19 respiratory clinic in Emerald today.

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As more cases of COVID-19 are confirmed in rural and remote areas, the widening of bulk-billed telehealth to the whole population - and a doubling of the bulk-billed incentive for all consultations - is greatly welcomed.

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ACRRM welcomes the expansion of telehealth services and bulk-billing incentives announced by the Australian Government today. ACRRM President Dr Ewen McPhee says these changes will significantly increase the capacity of the rural health system, particularly in general practice. ​

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If rural and remote Australians think their town is too isolated to be impacted by COVID-19, they should think again, the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) and Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) warned today.

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The My Health Record system supports rural doctors in the coordination of healthcare for their most vulnerable patients. Clinical Professor Meredith Makeham says, “the system has provided a supporting role in bushfires and the Queensland floods and can now assist with COVID-19 patients by enabling GPs to provide key health information to hospitals, pharmacies and the patient via a shared health summary”.

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The government’s commitment to increase the number of masks and Point of Care Testing kits to General Practice, will help combat the COVID-19 pandemic, ACRRM President Dr Ewen McPhee says.

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To assist general practices and in line with COVID-19 social distancing measures, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission) is maintaining requirements for accreditation.

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The College has been invited to provide feedback about the planned proposal to amend the relevant state legislation to enable prescriptions to be provided in an approved electronic form, consistent with the Commonwealth framework and the National Digital Health Strategy. A fact sheet is attached. Please provide any feedback to policy@acrrm.org.au by Wednesday 1 April 2020.

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Australia’s peak rural medical organisations have welcomed an announcement by the Prime Minister that most elective surgery in public and private hospitals will be suspended, as the nation’s health sector increases its preparedness for COVID-19. All elective surgery, other than category 1 and urgent category 2 cases, will be suspended from midnight tonight.

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The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) welcomes today’s announcement of the Remote Community Preparedness and Retrieval Package to help protect Indigenous communities against COVID-19.

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We live in extraordinary times. One could be forgiven for wishing we could skip 2020 altogether for it has been a year of firsts in most unfortunate ways with significant bushfires over Christmas, and now the threat of Pandemic SARS-COV-2.

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Due to a limited supply, the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA) is calling for all clinicians, GPs and healthcare providers to conserve the utilisation of all swabs, by limiting any unnecessary or non-urgent testing, such as for chronic leg ulcers.

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Peak rural medical organisations are calling for an urgent allocation of resources to ensure their communities are COVID-19 ready. The Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) and the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) have said that the window of opportunity to supply rural, regional and remote Australia was rapidly closing.

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The College has been asked to pass on the following message from RANZCR: RANZCR fully recognises the key role of frontline general practitioners in management of this pandemic. We are seeing a rapid increase in the number of confirmed and suspected COVID–19 patients in recent days and would like to request your help in order to protect them, our other patients and practice staff to ensure continuity of our ability to provide healthcare services to our community.

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The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) supports the extension of telehealth item numbers to ensure all doctors are equipped to protect their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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