Rural Hospital & Health Service Program
Rural Hospital and Health Service Program, incorporating the Multi Purpose Service Program
The demographic and social profile of rural Australia has changed substantially over the last decade as has the way health care is delivered and funded. Such factors are having a major impact on small rural and remote communities and the role of their health services. Hospital stays are shorter, there is expanding use of technology, more services are delivered in the community and increasingly more older people are choosing to be cared for at home. Further, there is greater emphasis on primary health care including health improvement and prevention programs.
The traditional hospital structure and models of care need to change to reflect the changed environment. For small rural and remote communities, flexible service models need to be developed which are more client-focussed and responsive to communities' needs and offer better integration of services.
In 1992/93 the Australian Government and State Governments established the Rural Hospital and Health Service Program, now better known as the Multi Purpose Service (MPS) Program, as one model of service delivery to address the difficulties of providing health, aged and community services in rural and remote communities. The MPS Program aims to pool the assorted health and aged care resources available to rural and remote communities under one management structure, into one multifunction, easily assessable, sustainable health, aged and community services facility - known as an MPS.
The core services of an MPS could include:
• acute services, including emergency and outpatient services;
• residential aged care services, nursing home or hostel services or both;
• community based services, such as community nursing, physiotherapy, podiatry, etc.
The NSW Government has a history of working collaboratively with the Australian Government in the development of the Multi Purpose Service Program. The provision of aged care services is undertaken by the NSW Government when they can be accommodated within the State and Area Healthcare Plans for capital investment, though primary responsibility for meeting the aged care needs of the population rests with the Australian Government.
An MPS sets aside the normal program guidelines and constraints so that smaller communities can integrate services, better match services to community needs, achieve gains in productivity, reduce administration overheads and share resources. The greater aims of the MPS delivery model are:
• establishment of viable acute health, aged care and community services;
• improved access to appropriate services; and
• increased co-ordination, flexibility and innovative service delivery.
Upon completion of Phase 3 in November 2008, there will be a total of 49 MPSs operational.
