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 Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA), Ken Griffin spoke with Australian Health Journal about the following:
- APNA President Karen Booth representing Primary Care Nursing in the Australian Government led Strengthening Medicare Task Force
- The current key challenges in primary care nursing
- Programs on diversity and student placement proposed in APNA’s pre-budget submission to Federal Government
- A proposed initiative called Nurse-Supported Self-Care, with broadening role primary care nursing would play in the community
And lastly Ken talks about primary care nursing able to make an impact in aged care through Government funding, to support a residential aged care workforce that will only come into existence from 1st July 2023. He also talks about nurses needing accommodation assistance when moving to regional and remote locations in Australia.
In closing Ken talks about Government needing to “catchup the care for chronic disease” with support for multiple workforces including allied health and multidisciplinary teams. To alleviate the pressure on hospitals, workforce policies need to be assessed to be able to deliver the necessary assessment and management of chronic disease.
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Australasian College of Paramedicine makes case for multi-disciplinary 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.
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Supporting the mental health of the Australian health care workforce
Tara Hurster, is the CEO of The TARA Clinic and a psychologist who started working within the area of addiction in 2010. The TARA clinic, short for Therapeutic Addiction Recovery Assistance, recently started offering online programs to overcome and recover from addiction.
Tara spoke with Australian Health Journal about the early warning signs of anxiety and stress in health staff and executives, including irritability, changes in sleep patterns and diet leading to more serious mental health decline. These behaviours and symptoms increase the risk of substance abuse that could take the form of excessive smoking, drinking alcohol and drug use, porn, sex and gambling.
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Smart technology in wound care
Throughout her journey around wound care, Santosh Kaur was frustrated to see the simple gaps in wound care resulting in negative patient outcomes. Santosh is the founder of SmartHeal which launched in 2020.
SmartHeal replaces the nurses taking cumbersome manual measurements and manual sharing of important wound data with a no touch technique. It aims for healthcare professionals to have live remote access to wound data, make wound assessments and assist with speech to text notes thus saving time, cost and people. SmartHeal also aims to assist healthcare professionals in providing optimum wound care by analysing the wound tissue for infection, moisture and providing suggestions for suitable dressing.
