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 provides more than $46 million over four years to improve access to funding for essential health infrastructure, equipment and service planning for rural and remote communities.

The NRRHIP is a competitive grant program that amalgamates the former Rural Medical Infrastructure Fund (RMIF) and the Rural Private Access (RPA) Program. The eligibility criteria reflects those former programs.

Invitation to Apply for Funding status: CLOSED

The invitation to apply for funding for round four of the NRRHIP opened on 14 November 2009 and closed on 29 January 2010.

The fifth round of NRRHIP funding will be advertised in late 2010.

Aim of the NRRHIP

The NRRHIP aims to:

• improve access to health services by providing funding to rural and remote communities to establish new, or enhance existing, walk-in/walk-out primary health care and medical facilities, where the lack of infrastructure (capital works and/or equipment) is a barrier to the delivery of essential health services;
• increase the range of and/or enhance existing privately insurable health services available to rural and remote Australia;
• improve the resources and facilities available to private general practitioners to assist with the training of registrars and medical students; and
• improve the viability of small rural private hospitals and bush nursing centres.

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 walk-in/walk-out 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 and allied health professionals.Top of page

Who can apply?

Those eligible to apply for funding under the NRRHIP are:

• local government organisations (shire councils, district councils, regional councils);
• Divisions of General Practice;
• Aboriginal Corporations incorporated under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006.
  (Refer the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations [ORIC] website: www.orac.gov.au/Content.aspx?content=CATSI-Act/default.htm;)
• private general 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 and the Rural Private Access 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
• Dieticians
• 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.

The NRRHIP can support

A maximum of $500,000 (GST exclusive) is available under the NRRHIP for eligible applicants seeking to provide services in rural and remote communities in the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) Remoteness Areas (RA) 2 to 5 with a population 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 include:

• 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.

The NRRHIP will not support

Funding will not be provided for:

• projects in Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) Remoteness Area (RA) 1;
• state government facilities and entities;
• medical specialists;
• acute care patient fees;
• ambulatory services;
• aged care services and facilities;
• pathology services or equipment;
• anaesthetic services;
• student accommodation;
• transport other than to support outreach services;
• research activity;
• support services to health professionals and hospitals;
• salaries for health professionals, project officers, management and administrative staff who are undertaking normal duties;
• strategic service planning other than for rural private hospitals;
• conference attendance;
• consumables;
• rental costs for residential accommodation for health practitioners. However, consideration may 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.

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How can I apply?

For individuals and organisations interested in applying for funding under Round Four 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 715 KB)
PDF printable version of Application and Eligibility Guidelines for NRRHIP (PDF 271 KB)

Should you have difficulties downloading the above documents, please telephone 1800 780 939 (in office hours 8:00 am to 4:30 pm EDST)

NOTE: This office will be closed from 3:00pm 24 December 2009 until 4 January 2010.

How are applications assessed?

Applications are assessed against a number of criteria including:

• Relevance of the Project;
• Community Need;
• 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 and mitigation strategy.

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

All applicants will be notified in writing as soon as a decision about their application for funding is made.

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 (in office hours 8:00 am to 4:30 pm EDST)

NOTE: This office will be closed from 3:00pm 24 December 2009 until 4 January 2010.

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