National Leadership Needed For Decisive Health Reform, Australia

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 02 Sep 2009 - 17:00 PDT

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Allowing nurses to work to their full scope of practice will vastly improve access to preventative and primary health care services for all Australians, the ANF said today following the release of two major health reform reports.

ANF Federal Secretary Ged Kearney said reports from the primary health care strategy reference group and preventative health taskforce were encouraging for nurses, midwives and the general public because they advocated a shift to patient and consumer centred care.

"The primary health care strategy report highlights the inadequate and fragmented state of our health system. One of the biggest problems we have in this regard is the lack of a collaborative, team based approach to health care delivery that puts the patient first.

"We should respond to patients and local communities on a needs basis when delivering primary and preventative health care, nurses are already doing this in large numbers around the country," Ms Kearney said. "We have a serious workforce shortage in the health care sector and we are not currently making the most of our valuable nurses and midwives."

Enhanced roles for nurses and midwives in primary health care is gaining recognition on a national and international level and is considered integral to achieving improved population health outcomes and access to primary health care services.

"Consolidating the role of nurses and midwives allows the human service sector to work with communities on preventing illness and promoting good health. It also provides an opportunity to improve the management of chronic disease and reduce demand on the acute sector. We have a unique opportunity in Australia to make these changes but it will require strong national leadership."

The ANF supports many of the key recommendations of both reports and looks forward to working on improving opportunities for nurses and midwives to work to their full scope of practice in delivering services to people in their communities, Ms Kearney said.

Source
Australian Nursing Federation

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