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Shortage of medics a concern

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MOTIVATION: Incentives to bring medical staff back to aged-care facilities could help alleviate the strain on health services

MOTIVATION: Incentives to bring medical staff back to aged-care facilities could help alleviate the strain on health services

PROVIDING incentives to bring medical staff back to aged-care facilities would not be Cairns’ “silver bullet”, but it could help alleviate the strain on health services.

Federal Health Minister Peter Dutton said the lack of facilities was not isolated to Cairns, and trying to get more staff into the system was among his top priorities.

Beds at Cairns Hospital continue to be taken up by patients awaiting nursing home placements, with figures in March showing there were 72 patients across the hinterland service in this position.

“If we can do that, we can stop some of the presentations into hospitals and emergency services,” Mr Dutton said.

“The problem is many of these aged-care facilities are bogged down in red tape, and the RNs and other nursing staff are spending more time behind the clipboard.

“There’s no silver bullet in this area, but Cairns would be one of the areas that would benefit significantly from any changes we made in further incentivising doctors to go into aged-care facilities.”

Mr Dutton was in Cairns yesterday as part of a drive to identify where health funding should best be spent.