There are big issues for Australians trying to see a doctor at clinics in regional Australia.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), Australians living in remote areas face several roadblocks when trying to access healthcare. Low population density, limited healthcare infrastructure, and the high cost of delivering care are just some of the reasons why folks in regional Australia are struggling to secure timely primary healthcare appointments.
Now booking a GP appointment at a clinic is usually a straightforward task for people living in cities. With plenty of medical centres and clinics located throughout capital cities and inner-city suburbs, receiving timely primary care is within reach. Not so for regional areas. In some parts of Australia, people need to put in an hour of drive time to get to a doctor.
As a result, the Institute says, Australians living in rural and remote areas have shorter lives, higher levels of disease and injury and poorer access to and use of health services, compared with people living in metropolitan areas.
The main point: we need expanded and consolidated clinics in regional Australia.
The numbers tell the story: in 2023, small rural towns had the lowest number of GPs and specialists relative to population size.
The Institute found that people living in remote and very remote areas can face barriers to accessing care, due to challenges. For instance, distance and drive time to clinics, limited infrastructure, fewer specialist services and greater costs associated with accessing services, such as accommodation and lost income.
Much of this is controversial. Despite financial incentives, many doctors prefer city practices. That’s due to lifestyle preferences and proximity to family, friends, and professional networks. There is also a lack of localised training opportunities to encourage doctors to establish careers in regional areas.
The National Rural Health Alliance found that metro areas had more GPs providing primary care (115.2 per 100,000 population) than regional centres (109.9), small rural towns (78.2), remote communities (68.1) and very remote communities (70.7).
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Chair Associate Professor Michael Clements described rural and remote communities as “the canary in the coal mine”.
“We know there aren’t enough GPs being trained right now to meet Australia’s needs – and that’s across urban and rural areas – so people need to start looking at these rural numbers, and the life expectancy drop the more rural you move, and recognise that this is the future of even urban primary care in Australian if we don’t reverse the trend that we’ve been seeing,” he told NewsGP, the most read daily news website for the nation’s GPs.
Associate Professor Clements says what’s needed is a flexible approach to funding. He says that would go a long way in addressing the disparities between city and country communities, including tiered funding and incentives for GPs which increase with remoteness and community need.
“Rural and remote GPs want unique, place-based solutions but also a package of funding that reflects the differences between what it’s like to be an urban GP versus a rural GP,” he said.
“In some towns we need pooled funding and bundled payments where there’s a lot more team-based care, and in other communities we need more uplift in the fee for service. Medicare and private billing can work in some communities, depending on how it’s structured.”
But let’s be clear: this issue is more complex than funding.
Health Minister Mark Butler told the 7.30 Report that only 14% of medicine graduates currently become GPs, whereas the figures used to be around half. And if that trend is right, then only a fraction of them would work in remote and regional Australia.
Mark Wizel, Founder of Your Medical Property sums up the problem and solution:
“Australia’s regional healthcare crisis isn’t cyclical or temporary, it’s structural,” Wizel says. “The current footprint of small, fragmented clinics simply can’t support the workforce, infrastructure, or patient demand required to deliver sustainable primary care in regional communities.”
“From a healthcare property perspective, the issue isn’t just a lack of doctors it’s a lack of fit-for-purpose facilities. Many regional practices are too small, under-resourced and operationally fragile to attract the next generation of GPs who want team-based care, flexibility and professional support.”
“The solution lies in consolidated, well-resourced regional clinics that bring GPs, allied health and diagnostics under one roof. These environments align with modern workforce expectations and consistently deliver better patient access, stronger clinician retention and lower pressure on regional hospitals.”
“When up to a third of emergency presentations in regional hospitals are GP-type cases, it’s clear the system is paying far more for failure than it would for prevention. Strategic investment in collaborative regional clinics isn’t just good health policy it’s essential infrastructure for the future of regional Australia.”
Here’s the bottom line: investment in consolidated, collaborative regional clinics is essential because the current primary‑care footprint simply cannot meet demand. Rural areas attract an even smaller share of medical graduates, leaving many communities with ageing workforces and clinics operating below sustainable staffing levels.
The result: avoidable pressure on hospitals. In some regional areas, up to one in three emergency presentations are classified as GP‑type cases, a pattern that costs the system far more than timely primary care. Without structural investment, these trends will intensify as older GPs retire and smaller practices become financially unviable.
What’s needed are consolidated, well‑resourced clinics. These offer a scalable solution that aligns with what the modern GP workforce actually wants.
Larger practices can provide team‑based care, flexible rosters, and professional support, conditions repeatedly identified in national workforce surveys as key to attracting younger doctors. Evidence from regional health networks shows that multidisciplinary clinics reduce hospital admissions for chronic disease by 20–30%, demonstrating the economic payoff of coordinated care.
While upfront investment is significant, long‑term savings from reduced hospitalisations, improved retention, and more efficient service delivery make collaborative clinic expansion not just viable but necessary for the sustainability of regional healthcare.
Clinics in regional areas looking to expand need to get in touch with Your Medical Property at Level 9, 175 Collins Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000. Or get in touch with Your Medical Property director Mark Wizel on 0411 694 756 or at mark@wizelpropertygroup.com
