In the lead up to the Australian Federal Budget in May 2023, Australian Health Journal reached out to peak health industry bodies to hear about their priorities, either noted in pre-budget submissions lodged with Federal Government in January 2023 or in recent forums such as the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce.
Others have stated their priorities directly with Federal Government. Through these interviews, AHJ gives a final opportunity to communicate to all health stakeholders, the funding needs for a range of priorities. These range from new models of care to pilots and wholesale, system improvements to building more sustainable workforces to help grow certain sectors of the health system
The CEO of Allied Health Professions Australia (AHPA), Bronwyn Morris-Donovan spoke with Australian Health Journal about the following:
- The structure and priorities for AHPA
- The setting and disciplines in Allied Health
- Allied Health representation in the Strengthening Medicare Task Force
- Importance of a data strategy and interoperability in delivery of allied health services
Lastly Bronwyn talks about the allied health priorities she hopes are included in the Federal Budget.
The first is the funding to support the delivery and implementation of the allied workforce strategy across the various settings where allied health is delivered. This includes health, disability, aged care and education settings. This should “genuinely look at issues of supply and distribution across multiple setting.”, says Bronwyn.
The second key priority is further work and investment with the Australian Digital Health Agency to build the interoperability needed for allied health to be able to upload to My Health Record. This access is an enabler to multidisciplinary team care and is a core recommendation of the Strengthening Medicare Task Force report; to enhance, build and foster multidisciplinary team care. Bronwyn states this is only possible by bringing allied health into the digital ecosystem through better digital interoperability.
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Health Minister appoints Chair to National One Stop Shop Program
The Australian Government has appointed Emeritus Professor Ian Chubb AC, FAA FTSE to lead key reforms as Chair of the Inter-Governmental Policy Reform Group (IGPRG) for health and medical research, including clinical trials.
Minister for Health and Aged Care, The Hon Mark Butler MP on the selection and appointment said, “Professor Chubb has dedicated his career to improving health and medical research and education in this county and I am pleased he has agreed to share his knowledge and experience through the IGPRG.
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“Nurses can do more, should do more and now they will do more”, The Hon Minister Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health.
Advanced Practice Nurses comprise 9% of the total nursing workforce, with 26,000 clinicians Australia wide. However although highly skilled, they are under-utilised and constrained to the full scope of practice. The Australian College of Nursing believes this needs to change. Nurse led models of care in which Advanced Practice Nurses play a significant role in service provision, must feature in the future. ACN President Professor Christine Duffield FACN states, “It’s now widely acknowledged internationally that nurses can provide a clinical and very valuable service that’s better suited to the healthcare needs of some consumer groups.”
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Handling modern day diets and misinformation as a HCP
Laureate Professor Clare Collins AO in Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Newcastle, emphasises the need for accurate and reliable nutrition information to reach the public. Prof Collins believes that it is vital for clinicians to stay up-to-date with cutting-edge nutrition science and work with communication organisations to disseminate information to the general public. This is particularly important as social media is full of both reliable and unreliable information on dietary patterns, such as veganism.
