Why is this useful for rural and remote people?

The resource provides the latest information on the performance of your local hospital. Some useful information for rural and remote towns could include the number of Triage Category 3,4 and 5 presentations to your local Hospital Emergency Department (these are low acuity presentations that should be treated at a local GP or primary health clinic). If there are large numbers of these low acuity presentations at the hospital it might indicate that the local GP is being overwhelmed or could be a result of not having a local GP. When someone goes to the ED to get a treatment that they could have received at a local GP it costs the government an average of around $350 to treat, compared to an average of around $50 to provide the same treatment at a GP clinic. Information like this can be used by local communities to make the case to government to invest in strengthening the local primary care centre to reduce wastage of public money on treating low acuity patients in hospitals.