National Rural and Remote Health Infrastructure Program

The National Rural and Remote Health Infrastructure Program (NRRHIP) aims to improve access to health services by providing funding to rural and remote communities where the lack of infrastructure is a barrier to the establishment of new, or the enhancement of existing health services.

Introduction

As part of the 2008-09 Federal Budget, the Australian Government announced the establishment of the National Rural and Remote Health Infrastructure Program (NRRHIP), which will provide more than $46 million over the next four years to improve access to funding for essential health infrastructure, equipment and service planning for rural and remote communities.

The NRRHIP amalgamates the Rural Medical Infrastructure Fund (RMIF) and the Rural Private Access (RPA) Program. The NRRHIP is a competitive grants program that will encompass the broadened eligibility criteria for the RMIF announced by the Government, as well as criteria relating to the RPA Program.

Invitation to Apply for Funding status: OPEN

The invitation to apply for funding for Round Two of the NRRHIP opened on 8 November 2008 and will close on 19 December 2008.

What the NRRHIP aims to do

The NRRHIP aims to:

• improve access to health services by providing funding to rural and remote communities to establish ‘walk-in/walk-out’ primary health care and medical facilities, where the lack of infrastructure is a barrier to the establishment of new, or the enhancement of existing health services;
• improve the viability of rural private hospitals; and
• increase the range of privately insurable health services available to rural and remote Australia.

The objectives of the NRRHIP are to:

• support local rural and remote communities to develop flexible, long-term solutions for the provision of health services to meet the needs of the community;
• assist the establishment and/or refurbishment of primary health care and medical facilities in rural and remote communities;
• retain community access to rural private hospital services;
• support allied health professionals to establish, continue and/or enhance the delivery of privately insurable health services to rural and remote communities; and
• make it easier for rural and remote communities to recruit and retain the services of general practitioners (GPs) and allied health professionals.

Who can apply?

Those eligible to apply for funding under the NRRHIP include:

• Local government organisations (shire councils, district councils, regional councils);
• Divisions of General Practice;
• Indigenous Community Councils;
• private practitioners, where funding will be used for training facilities for medical students/registrars;
• allied health professionals, who are providing privately insurable health services, and dentists in private practice; and
• rural private hospitals including those eligible under the former Bush Nursing, Small Community and Regional Private Hospitals program (Attachment 1 of this Application & Eligibility Guidelines refers) and the former Rural Private Access (RPA) program.

Rural Workforce Agencies may apply for funding as a partnership arrangement with any of the above eligible applicants.

Divisions of General Practice and local government organisations may also apply for NRRHIP funding to fund facilities which are located on hospital or health campus grounds.
Under the NRRHIP an allied health professional may include:

• Aboriginal Health and Mental Health Workers
• Audiologists
• Chiropractors
• Chiropodists
• Dietitians
• Optometrists
• Occupational Therapists
• Orthotists/Prosthetists
• Physiotherapists
• Podiatrists
• Psychologists
• Registered nurses in specialist roles (including asthma management, diabetes education or mental health)
• Speech pathologists

All Applicants must have an Australian Business Number (ABN) or an Australian Company Number (ACN) to apply for funding under the NRRHIP.

What funding can be used for?

A total of $500,000 (GST exclusive) is available under the NRRHIP for eligible applicants seeking to provide services in rural and remote communities with populations of up to 20,000.

The amount for each funding stream of an application will be capped as follows:

• $500,000 (GST exclusive) for capital works / refurbishment;
• $250,000 (GST exclusive) for equipment; and/or
• $50,000 (GST exclusive) strategic service planning for rural private hospitals.

An applicant may apply for funding under more than one (1) funding stream, but the total of their application must not exceed $500,000 (GST exclusive).

Only one application per applicant will be accepted in each funding round.

Note: Applications from suburbs within larger townships will not be considered. The population of the township will be taken into consideration and not the population of the individual suburb.

Capital Works / Refurbishment may involve:

• the acquisition or establishment of new buildings and/or fit-out or renovations of existing buildings;
• establishment or refurbishment of facilities that are located on hospital or health campus grounds; and/or
• refurbishment of private practices to establish training facilities for medical students and/or medical registrars.

Equipment may involve

• the purchase of equipment, including specialist medical/surgical equipment, technology upgrades such as computer hardware and software, patient information management systems, networking systems for medical personnel, telephone systems and videoconferencing equipment; and
• the provision of resources to pilot innovative approaches to the delivery of privately insurable health services.

Strategic Service Planning for rural private hospitals may involve:

• undertaking a feasibility study for a particular health service delivery model, including the introduction of privately insurable health services;
• undertaking a consultancy and community/stakeholder consultations to assist the development of appropriate health service delivery models to address community needs and to enhance the long term viability of the services;
• support for accreditation;
• examining current administrative and financial management arrangements in order to achieve economies of scale; and/or
• funding of planning activities, such as a project officer overseeing the capital works activity.

What funding cannot be used for?

Funding will not be provided for:

• acute care patient fees;
• aged care services and facilities;
• salaries for administrative staff who are undertaking normal duties;
• salaries for health professionals;
• strategic service planning other than rural private hospitals;
• conference attendance;
• consumables;
• rental costs for residential accommodation for health practitioners. However, consideration will be given to projects that incorporate self-contained flats within the health service to provide short-term accommodation for health professionals;
• recurrent costs, such as operating expenses, practice management, ongoing building and equipment maintenance and repair, rent, annual licensing fees, insurance and state and local government statutory charges such as rates (exceptions may be made on a case by case basis e.g. in the short-term for the establishment of a new service); and/or
• retrospective costs, i.e. expenses incurred before contractual arrangements with the Commonwealth are completed, or for projects already completed.

How can I apply?

For individuals and organisations interested in applying for funding under Round Two of the NRRHIP, the application FORM, application and eligibility guidelines and the application assistance package are available for download from the following website:

www.health.gov.au/tenders

The program is listed on the tenders page under “Grants”.

Applications must be submitted in hard copy in accordance with the application guidelines.

NRRHIP Application and Eligibility Guidelines

The NRRHIP Application and Eligibility Guidelines have been created to provide information to parties interested in applying for funding under the NRRHIP.

The NRRHIP Application and Eligibility Guidelines is available for download in HTML or PDF Format

National Rural and Remote Health Infrastructure Program Application and Eligibility Guidelines (RTF 1216 KB)

PDF printable version of Application and Eligibility Guidelines for NRRHIP (PDF 193 KB)

Should you have difficulties downloading the above documents, please telephone 1800 780 939 (in office hours)

How are applications assessed?

Applications are assessed against a number of criteria including:

• Demonstrated understanding of the overarching aims and objectives of the NRRHIP;
• Suitability of the project plan;
• Relevant experience of the project team;
• Demonstrated value for money;
• Demonstrated capacity for sustainability;
• Management of potential or actual competing interests; and
• Risk analysis.

The assessment of applications will take approximately six months from the closing date.

All applicants will be notified in writing as soon as possible about the outcome of their application for funding.

Contact details

For more information about the National Rural and Remote Health Infrastructure Program please email nrrhip@health.gov.au or ph: 1800 780 939.

Postal Address
Rural Outreach Services and Infrastructure Section
Rural Health Services and Policy Branch (MDP 91)
Office of Rural Health
Department of Health and Ageing
GPO Box 9848
CANBERRA ACT 2601

Page last modified: 10 November, 2008

• Top of page
• Acronyms and Glossary
• Subscription
• Feedback
• Accessibility
• Privacy
• Disclaimer
• Copyright
• Senate Order Contracts
• Site Help
• Other Languages

ABN: 83 605 426 759     © Commonwealth of Australia