Through the Better Outcomes in Mental Health Care

Improving access to rural health care Doctors and allied health professionals are in short supply in rural and remote areas of Australia.1 Added to this, scattered populations and small communities make meeting the health needs of the people living and working in these areas a challenge.1 Major Australian Government measures set by the newly established Office of Rural Health2 and visa arrangements for overseas trained medical doctors will help. At the local level, traditional approaches must make way for health services that are flexible and responsive to local circumstances to better meet the diverse needs of the population. Current rural research has a role at different stages of policy implementation: assessing the impact of infrastructure changes designed to improve pathways to care, and identifying and evaluating how local rural services are contributing to improved quality of care through increased inter-disciplinary cooperation. STRUCTURAL CHANGES MAKE A DIFFERENCE A number of initiatives have been introduced to support structural change and improve access to health care in rural and remote communities. The More Allied Health Services established in 2000 and currently under revie