Doctors warn quality healthcare and life expectancy are worsening in remote communities

ABC NEWS (Australia)

There's a direct link between your postcode and your life expectancy. Recent data shows those in very remote parts of Queensland are more likely to die six years earlier than their urban counterparts. Part of the problem is access to good-quality healthcare, and doctors warn the situation is worsening.

Transcript

00:00It's never a quick trip to town for Cathy and Kerry MacDonald.

00:07Hi, how are you?

00:09You can't walk down the street without seeing somebody you know,

00:13or feeling in a familiar environment.

00:15They've called Longreach home for most of their lives,

00:18but since Kerry developed a heart condition,

00:21they've been forced to regularly travel from the outback to Brisbane,

00:251,200 kilometres away, to see specialists.

00:29The 80-year-old was offered a spot in a three-year medical trial in the capital,

00:35but turned it down.

00:36We agonised over it, you know.

00:38We'd have to leave and virtually start another life.

00:43Advocacy groups say too many older Queenslanders

00:47are forced to choose between their home and their health.

00:50People are having to move away to access health services and other supports.

00:57That has a whole, you know, grief, loss, trauma associated with that.

01:02The divide is deepening between country and city life.

01:06Rural doctors warn cost of living and housing pressures have exacerbated the problem,

01:11with more people moving to the regions putting further pressure on existing services.

01:16Some of our rural and remote communities are waiting five to six weeks

01:20before they can even see their general practitioner.

01:22The stark reality is the further from the city someone lives, the earlier they could die.

01:28The most recent data from Queensland Health shows the median age of death in very remote parts of the state

01:33was 75 years old compared to 81 in major cities.

01:38And those in the most disadvantaged areas die on average three years earlier than those in high socioeconomic areas.

01:46Coronary heart disease remains the leading cause of death and it's largely preventable.

01:51We are actually seeing people presenting a lot later in disease progression

01:55and therefore their outcomes are nowhere near as good as if we'd picked it up earlier.

01:59Advocacy groups want a bigger investment in health from both the state and federal governments.

02:05It shouldn't matter what your postcode is.

02:08Every Queenslander and every Australian, for that matter,

02:12deserves to have the same sort of access to good quality health care.

02:16The McDonalds plan to stay in their beloved postcode for as long as possible.

02:21Despite the tyranny of distance, they feel they're among the lucky ones.

02:25We have doctors that look after us very well.

02:29If we need specialist treatment, well we're sent away.

02:32We feel that we don't miss out too much.

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