A Deloitte study on General Practices in 2019 predicted an increase in unmet medical needs and a decrease in the medical workforce. The study discussed new models of care with interdisciplinary team care including nurse practitioners and community paramedics. Australian Health Journal spoke with the Australasian College of Paramedicine on the role paramedics can play aside from delivering emergency care in transit.
John Bruning is the CEO of the Australasian College of Paramedicine, which has been representing the paramedicine profession in Australia and New Zealand for more than 50 years. According to John, there have been exciting developments in the paramedicine and health fields the past year.
The scope of practice review, as well as the Federal Government’s efforts to improve patient outcomes through multidisciplinary team care, have been particularly noteworthy. While paramedics have traditionally been associated with emergency response and ambulance services, the review has highlighted the potential for them to play a significant role in supporting the healthcare of local communities.
Bruning points out paramedics have the opportunity to play a key role in supporting healthcare and improving patient outcomes. Paramedics should be utilised more widely in urgent care clinics to improve patient outcomes as they are experts in urgent, acute, unplanned care.
Despite being seen primarily as emergency responders, paramedics have long been providing care in the primary care space. As such, their increased involvement in primary and urgent care is a natural progression that can lead to improved health outcomes for communities. Urgent care clinics, which treat non-life-threatening injuries and illnesses, have been a recent introduction. However, when these clinics were initially proposed, paramedics were left out of the opportunity, despite being experts in urgent, acute, unplanned, and unscheduled care. They work in these types of situations every day in the ambulance service and should be utilised in these clinics to improve patient outcomes. Working as part of multidisciplinary teams with doctors and nurses can further enhance the outcomes for local communities.
Discussing with Australian Health Journal, Michelle Murphy, the Advocacy and Government Relations Lead for the Australasian College of Paramedicine, says that having a sustainable health workforce is essential for improving access to healthcare. Paramedicine is currently the fastest-growing health workforce, growing at 9% per annum for the last four years. Urgent care clinics are filling the gap between family or primary care and tertiary or hospital-based care and reducing the pressure on emergency departments and ambulances. Paramedics are well-placed to work in these clinics, delivering ad hoc unplanned clinical care when it is urgent but not an emergency. Multidisciplinary teams improve access to care by enabling communities to think about the health providers they need and bringing together different providers to work together to deliver care in communities.
Murphy references a study involving Associate Professor John Adie at the University of the Sunshine Coast. As Assoc Professor of Urgent Care, Prof Adie talks about the workforce of General Practitioners at the time predicted to decrease by 25% from 2019 to 2023, while the unmet need was expected to increase by 38%. Some countries are adopting new models that involve nurse practitioners and community paramedics as part of the workforce. These practitioners will be able to assist GPs in seeing patients with non-life-threatening urgent conditions.
-
Calls for National Social Prescribing Scheme
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), Consumers Health Forum of Australia (CHF) and Mental Health Australia are urging the government to implement a national social prescribing scheme to tackle Australia’s mental health and wellbeing crisis.
Mental ill health is a growing problem in Australia and has been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2017, GPs across Australia have rated mental health as the most common presentation they see as part of the RACGP’s annual Health of the Nation survey. Approximately 20% of patients consult their GP for what are primarily social problems.
-
Upskilling & empowering Health Professionals to support preconception to pre-school level health
A new podcast series, developed by Health and Wellbeing Queensland, is designed to upskill and empower health professionals in their support of parents from preconception through to the pre-school years.
Clinician’s Guide to the First 2000 Days follows the success of Health and Wellbeing Queensland’s first podcast series Clinician’s Guide to Healthy Kids, launched in 2023. Both focus on supporting health professionals to have effective conversations on positive health behaviours.
-
Changes in MBS bulk billing incentives address GP capacity in women’s health
Dr. Sneha Wadhwani, a General Practitioner in Bondi, and Conjoint Lecturer at UNSW School of Medicine, is actively involved in enhancing women’s health services across Australia. As the Co-founder and Clinical Director of Evoca Women’s Health, she highlights the significant improvements in funding for women’s health, particularly with the new MBS bulk billing incentives, in new codes, that commenced on November 1, 2025.
