Rural health

Primary Health Tasmania aims to improve health outcomes for people with chronic conditions living in rural areas.

To do this, we work with communities and service providers to get an idea of what services are needed and how they can best be accessed by the people who need them.

A high proportion of Tasmania’s population – or about 56 percent – live outside of Hobart.

Our commissioned activity

We’ve funded four organisations to deliver primary healthcare services to people with chronic conditions across 21 rural local government areas.

The chronic conditions covered by these services are:

  • type 2 diabetes
  • dementia
  • heart disease
  • mental illness
  • respiratory disease
  • cancer
  • lung disease
  • musculoskeletal disorders.

Find out more about them by searching Our Services Portal.

Michelle Turpin’s high cholesterol and diabetes was getting “a bit out of control” when she was referred to the Royal Flying Doctor Service Tasmania’s rural health program.
She dropped two kilograms in the first week alone, started eating breakfast and boosted her walking time to improve her overall fitness.
“I’m feeling a hundred per cent better  – I can keep going pretty much all day now,” the George Town local says.

Other services in rural areas

While the key focus of Primary Health Tasmania’s dedicated rural health program is chronic conditions, we have also commissioned a range of other services available to people living in rural parts of the state.

These include services for:

Find out more about them by searching Our Services Portal.

Helpful links