Hospitals and Healthcare

Sustaining midwifery group programs, which allow women to see one or two midwives their entire pregnancy, can be tricky in regional Australia. But for over 20 years, one in Wangaratta has proved it's not impossible — and its model could help other regional centres follow suit.

Getting basic healthcare in regional Australia sometimes can be hard. A community paramedic trial in Victoria is rethinking the profession's role and aims to ease the strain on doctors and nurses.

If it’s a problem in the city, it’s worse in the country. We look at one town as an example of the obstacles faced by people looking for adequate mental health care in rural and remote areas

People living in regional areas say they're falling through the cracks of a complicated mental health system, with one woman trying nine times before finding ongoing GP support for her son.

A program run by Monash University is addressing the regional doctor shortage by supporting more students from outside the city to study medicine.

It's a perennial problem with very few answers — how to get doctors and other healthcare workers to regional and rural parts of the country.

Regional Australians will receive their vaccinations at the same time as metro counterparts when the expected nationwide rollout begins next month, according to the Rural Doctors Association.

Experts say the effect of doctor and nurse shortages will be amplified if an outbreak of coronavirus occurs in regional Australia, where long wait times for GPs and stretched hospitals are a common part of life.