A range of medical support all under the one roof aims to provide ease of access for Highlands patients.
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Southern Medical Centres in Bundanoon and Moss Vale are now home to several specialist health services providing patients access to more comprehensive medical support.
SMC practice manager Helen Portus said the team felt that “if we can offer the services ‘in house’, our patients are more likely to use them and thus receive the support services they need.”
“Along with our General Practitioner and nursing services, we can also offer remedial massage, physiotherapy, podiatry, osteopathy, dietetics, exercise physiology, psychology, psychiatry and pathology collection,” she said.
“We are excited to be able to bring these services to the residents of Moss Vale and Bundanoon.
“It is very exciting for us to be able to provide such a comprehensive range of medical services to our patients.”
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australians living in rural areas tend to have shorter lives, higher levels of disease and injury and poorer access to and use of health services compared to people living in metropolitan areas.
Poorer health outcomes in rural areas are due to a range of factors including lack of access to health services.
Some of the statistics are that people living in rural areas:
- Have a higher rate of chronic disease (54 per cent compared with 48 per cent in major cities)
- 1.7 times the rate of suicide
- More than two in three people are overweight or obese (69 per cent)
- Almost three in four do not get enough exercise (72 per cent)
The report suggests that people living in rural areas have poorer access to, and use of, health services and higher rates of potentially avoidable hospital admissions.
One of the main contributing factors to people not using health care services is the travel time and distance they have to go to access the services.
Being able to provide a comprehensive range of health care services in a single location increases the likelihood of patients accessing these services and therefor improving their overall health outcomes.
Ms Portus said many people were also unaware of the support services available to them when dealing with and treating chronic diseases.
“The practice is driven to improve health outcomes for its patients. Particularly those suffering with a chronic illness,” she said.
“We feel very strongly about these patients getting access to all the support services they need to have the best overall outcomes and quality of life.”