The $370 difference between MPs and rural patients travelling to Brisbane

Rural Queenslanders are calling on the state government to increase subsidies for patients who have to travel hundreds of kilometres to access health care, with fears people are delaying life-saving treatment because of prohibitive costs.

While MPs from regional electorates are given a daily accommodation allowance of $440 to travel to Brisbane when state parliament sits, a rural patient travelling more than 50 kilometres for specialist healthcare can claim just $70 a night, and 34 cents per kilometre for petrol.

Rural healthcare advocate Justine Christerson said the gap between the subsidies shows the government is “out of touch with the constituents they’re representing”.

She said the current Patient Travel Subsidy Scheme (PTSS) allowance barely covers the scope of expenses incurred by travelling patients, particularly low-income earners.

“Look at the prices [around Brisbane] when the Ekka was on … you might have found [accommodation] around $140 a night, but most likely it was up to $880 a night,” she said.

“For people at certain times, it’s just absolutely unaffordable, and they have to delay their healthcare treatments.”

Christerson wants to see the daily rate for a single person increased to $100 “or more” per night.

AMA Queensland president Dr Nick Yim agrees the subsidy falls short and says an increase “would be welcomed by many worried about the impact illness or injury will have on their family”.

“Given Queensland’s decentralised nature, we know there will always be patients with complex needs that have to be treated in major metro hospitals,” Yim said.

“For those patients and their loved ones, covering the cost of travel is an added stress … particularly given the rising cost of living.”

Husband and wife Pauline and Rod first travelled from their home near Emerald to see specialists in Brisbane in April last year, after Rod was diagnosed with mouth and throat cancer.

After receiving major facial surgery in June, the couple spent a month staying at the Oaks hotel near the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in Herston.

They returned home in July, but after a few weeks, Rod developed complications breathing, and was rushed back to Brisbane in early August.

Pauline and Rod spent the next five months in Brisbane. While Pauline praised aspects of the PTSS, she estimated out-of-pocket expenses of nearly $25,000 during their extended stay in the city, and said the current rate is insufficient.

“You don’t go because you want to,” she said. “You don’t have a choice.

“[The rate increase] needs to be at least $100 because even in the time that we were [in Brisbane], the accommodation went up.”

Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council acting chief executive Paula Arnol noted the subsidy had only been raised once in over a decade, from $60 in 2013 to $70.

She said it leaves “patients well behind the rapidly climbing cost of living”.

“[The PTSS] simply does not reflect the real costs faced by patients and families – when the average hotel in Brisbane or Cairns can easily cost $200 or more a night,” Arnol said.

“Too often, people are left out of pocket, forced to stay in unsafe or unsuitable accommodation, or delay treatment altogether.”

Arnol said if $440 a night is considered reasonable for MPs, “then $70 for sick patients is inexcusable”.

“The Queensland government needs to do better … just as MPs are appropriately compensated for their costs associated with travel and accommodation, so too should patients.”

Rural Doctors Association of Queensland president Dr Danielle Allan said the key issue was that unlike MPs, who chose to stand for parliament knowing it would involve travel to Brisbane, sick patients living in the bush had no choice in the matter.

“[Politicians] are paid to do the job and yet still receive reimbursement or allowances to cover their travel,” she said.

“People living in rural and remote communities are some of the most socially disadvantaged in Queensland, and they are expected to further carry a financial burden to seek the care they need based on their post code.”

Katter’s Australian Party leader Robbie Katter acknowledged the disparity between rural patients and politicians, but said even he struggles to cover travel expenses across remote parts of the state.

“It’s pretty fair to call us politicians out … but there have still been multiple years when I’ve had to dig into my own pockets to get around my electorate,” he said.

Katter said the current PTSS rate is “a classic example of a policy made in Brisbane” by city politicians who “clearly have no idea the impact of the inadequacies”.

“The whole spirit of the scheme is that you shouldn’t be out of pocket to someone living in Brisbane,” he said.

Health Minister Tim Nicholls said this year’s budget included $123.4 million for the PTSS, the largest amount ever allocated.

Christerson said the PTSS “should be a vital part of rural healthcare, not a discretionary fund”.

“It’s horrifying when you speak to patients and they just don’t understand why they’re not better looked after. It’s bullshit, and [the government] need to do more.”

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