Welcoming the appointment of Senator Anne Ruston as Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care; Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme; and Sport; the Australian College of Nursing (ACN) urges the Coalition to adopt a bipartisan approach to support the transformative health reform agenda awaiting implementation by the returned Labor Government.
ACN Director of Leadership and Transformation, Jennifer Harland FACN, said that Australia has an unprecedented opportunity to address healthcare access and workforce issues by allowing all health professions to provide care at the full capacity and capability of their skills, education, and qualifications.
"It is positive that Senator Ruston has retained the health portfolio. She knows the breadth of policy and she knows the key stakeholders in the health sector," Ms Harland said.
"ACN has had a productive working relationship with Senator Ruston. Given the election result, it is clear the Coalition will need to review its health platform."
ACN also welcomes the following appointments:
- Phillip Thompson – Shadow Assistant Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme
- Zoe McKenzie – Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health
- Sam Birrell – Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health
- Senator Kerryanne Liddle – Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians
"The Government in its first term developed an ambitious health reform program, informed by the Strengthening Medicare processes and major reviews including the Cormack Review .
"We now look forward to the second-term implementation of the recommendations of the reviews, with the support of the Coalition, the Greens, other parties, and the Independents.
"With GPs under pressure and facing serious workforce shortages, especially in rural Australia, now is the time to maximise the expertise of nurses, nurse practitioners, midwives, and other key frontline healthcare professionals including pharmacists, physiotherapists, and dieticians, to meet growing patient and community need in multidisciplinary teams.
"Australia must move beyond doctor-only healthcare solutions. Nurses and other health professionals do not want to replace GPs, we want to complement them. By working together, patients and communities get better and quicker access to the care they need.
"Scope of practice reforms will allow all health professionals to work to their full capacity and potential – what they were trained and educated to do.
"We must build on the success of Urgent Care Clinics (UCCs), in which nurses play a key role, and expand nurse-led models of care such as the nurse-led walk-in clinics in the ACT.
"The Coalition must now support the Government's reform program, which has the potential to transform the delivery of care across Australia, especially with nurse-led services in rural, regional, and remote Australia.
"ACN will work with the new shadow health ministers on priority areas of expanding access to healthcare in rural and remote areas, addressing nursing workforce critical shortages and healthcare funding.
"A key plank of work is ensuring that nurses are funded and supported to work to their full scope of practice in all healthcare settings," Ms Harland said.
Nurses are the largest group of the healthcare professionals and the most geographically spread, and bring invaluable expertise to healthcare policy discussions. Our members work at the coalface of healthcare delivery and understand firsthand the challenges and opportunities within the system. They have enormous power to support Australia address its healthcare challenges and must be included in all policy discussions relating to health care.
"The nursing profession stands ready to collaborate with the Opposition to find solutions to Australia's most pressing healthcare challenges."
