New research has identified that continued financial, personal, and professional support is needed to ensure workforce retention and satisfaction among eye care service providers in rural and remote Western Australia.
The qualitative descriptive study aimed to explore the perspectives of the rural workforce on ways to improve rural eye care access, conducting interviews with 17 eye care professionals in rural WA.
The research, led by the University of Western Australia Department of Optometry and Vision Science and published in The Australian Journal of Rural Health,1 found the need for a collaborative care framework was a key opportunity to decrease wait times and maximise efficiency of visiting services.
Establishing a sustainable collaborative care model emerged as a key opportunity to meet the eye care needs in rural areas
Major Themes
The authors reported four main themes: barriers to access to care; the need for a collaborative framework between ophthalmology and optometry; and both the motivation and challenges of working in rural areas.
Access to Care
“Participants felt that access to eye care in rural and remote Western Australia was uniquely challenging due to the geography, with 540,000 people who live across more than two million square kilometres… travel to eye care services relied on others given limited transport options…”
“In many regions, public ophthalmology wait times was a barrier with participants reporting long wait lists. Another barrier where local services existed was the absence of advanced diagnostic equipment that prevented optimal care delivery.
Cost of services was another identified as another barrier, with some regions having private ophthalmology services only, requiring patients to travel to Perth if they required public care.
The survey participants described the critical importance of outreach services, and collaborative telehealth services.
Need for a Collaborative Framework
Establishing a sustainable collaborative care model emerged as a key opportunity to meet the eye care needs in rural areas. Many participants also highlighted the importance of maximising skillset for efficiency by reducing duplication of care.
Motivation and Challenges
The report authors identified the desire to make a difference and the rewarding nature of rural practice as key motivators for working in rural areas. Many participants appreciated the rural lifestyle, noting deeper connections to both their patients and community than in urban practices.
However, the report said participants also noted particular challenges including:
- Isolation from family and friends,
- Lack of professional development opportunities,
- Difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff,
- Insufficient renumeration for chronic disease management,
- Lack of funding for some outreach services, and
- Lack of established communication channels between referring practitioners and service providers.
Challenges reported by the workforce, such as isolation and funding, highlight areas where support to encourage retention of the rural workforce is needed
Conclusion
Noting some of the sub-themes were specific to eye care, the study authors concluded there were opportunities to reduce barriers to care in rural WA. These included “maximising [the] skillset and scope of the professions, establishing a collaborative care framework between ophthalmology and optometry, and harnessing models of care delivery such as optometry-facilitated teleophthalmology and teleoptometry”.
“Challenges reported by the workforce, such as isolation and funding, highlight areas where support to encourage retention of the rural workforce is needed.
“Future research is required to explore the development of collaborative care frameworks, telehealth models and workforce training.”
Reference
- Chen J, Turner AW, Alam, K, et al. Rural eye care access, workforce challenges and opportunities: Perspectives of the eye health workforce in Western Australia. Aust J Rural Health. 2025;33: e70004. doi: 10.1111/ajr.70004.
