National Rural and Remote Health Infrastructure Program (NRRHIP)

What it does

The program directs funding to the provision of essential health infrastructure (capital works and/or purchase of equipment). Projects must support the development of innovative models of health service delivery for rural and remote communities. Funding is also provided to small rural private hospitals for strategic service planning.

The NRRHIP is a competitive grants program. Funding is available for the following three streams:

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

Eligible applicants can apply for funding under more than one funding stream, but the total of the application must not exceed $500,000 (GST exclusive).

Who's eligible?

Those eligible to apply for funding include:

• local governments
• Divisions of General Practice
• Medicare Locals
• Indigenous organisations incorporated under one of the following:
  • Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006;
  • Corporations Act 2001; or
  • Similar State/Territory legislation.
• 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
• rural private hospitals eligible under the former Bush Nursing, Small Community and Regional Private Hospitals Program (BNSCRPHP) and the Rural Private Access (RPA) Program i.e. rural private hospitals that were eligible and operating when the BNSCRPHP and RPA programs were in existence.

Funding is provided for projects in Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) Remoteness Areas (RA) 2-5.

On 20 June 2012, the Minister for Health (the Minister) announced the successful applicants under round six of the NRRHIP. A complete list of the successful projects is available on the Minister’s website.

A seventh round of the NRRHIP in 2012 has yet to be confirmed

What it achieves

The NRRHIP aims to improve access to health services in rural and remote communities where a lack of infrastructure is a barrier to the establishment of new health services, or the improvement of existing health services.

Want more info?

Call 1800 780 939 (Monday-Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm AEST)
or Email: nrrhip@health.gov.au
or Go to website>