The Rural, Regional and Remote Roundtable on Health Service Access was a virtual event held on 1 December 2021. The roundtable was hosted by the CHF, in partnership with the NRHA.

The roundtable was instigated by CHF’s Rural and Remote SIG, a volunteer group of consumer health leaders. The group highlighted that access to specific services outside metro areas are problematic and a priority. They expressed a desire to be proactive in tackling these problems with consumer-led, consumer-driven and consumer-focused solutions.

There were two core aims of the roundtable:

1. For consumers to name the core problems of each theme and to discuss potential solutions for better access to health care for those who don’t live in urban environments.
2. To draft those suggestions and solutions into a report that will add value to consultations and priorities sought from government and other related policy organisations, before and after the next federal election, and in the coming years of policy development around access to health services in regional, rural and remote Australia.