S.TRUEMAN PhD THESIS 2016

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• ‘Improve service equity for … remote communities through place-based models of care’ (Recommendation 10). This can be achieved by acknowledging the ‘diversity between regions, a “one-size-fits-all” approach cannot be applied across … remote Australia. Nor can assumptions be made about the availability of services in one area on the basis of those in another. Local circumstances need to be considered’ (2014, Vol. 1, p. 85). • ‘Improve education and training of the mental health and associated workforce to deploy evidence-based treatment’ (Recommendation 22). This can be achieved to better target and equip ‘areas of need, particularly … remote Australia, to deliver mental health services, we need to look at innovative ways of ensuring they still have access to a fit-for-purpose workforce’ (2014, Vol. 1, p. 120). • ‘Implement cost-effective second and third generation e-mental health solutions that build sustained self-help … and provide direct clinical support strategies or enhance the effectiveness of local services’ (Recommendation 25), targeted at ‘people in remote populations’ (2014, Vol. 1, p. 127). Adoption of these recommendations would benefit and assist remote generalist nurses in the delivery of mental healthcare. 2.13 Profile of Mental Healthcare Delivery in Remote Australia Australia’s national health insurance scheme, Medicare (first established in 1975 as Medibank), was introduced to deliver the ‘most equitable and efficient means of providing health insurance coverage for all Australians’ (Parliament of Australia, 2003). In the 40 years since, questions have been raised about whether Medicare provides equitable access, particularly to mental health services (Harrison, Britt & Charles, 2012; Rosenberg &