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Jolyon Attwooll

06 Dec 2023
News

National Cabinet signs off workforce funding boost

Jolyon Attwooll

6/12/2023 4:11:40 PM

Part of a new $1.2 billion Medicare package will go towards the Kruk Review recommendations, the Prime Minister has said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the healthcare reforms are ‘substantial’. (Image: AAP)

Funding measures designed to boost Australia’s health workforce have been announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese following a National Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
 
Part of the new $1.2 billion Medicare funding package will be used to implement recommendations from the Kruk Review designed to address health workforce shortages, the Prime Minister announced.
 
He said these will be funded by the Government and put in place jointly with state governments.
 
The Kruk Review was agreed by National Cabinet last year and its final report is expected before the end of 2023. An interim report was also released in April, with the college subsequently committing to simplify its own assessment and accreditation processes.
 
Aside from helping to ease workforce issues, the extra Medicare funding will go towards more Urgent Care Clinics, as well as support for older Australians to avoid hospital admission or to get discharged from hospital care earlier, according to Prime Minister Albanese.
 
However, the his statement immediately after the National Cabinet meeting did not clarify how the $1.2 billion will be divided.
 
He said health had been ‘the number one priority’ during discussions, with first ministers agreeing the extra resources to reduce pressure on the hospital system.
 
‘These measures … will grow and support our health workforce while reducing unnecessary presentations to emergency departments,’ he told reporters.
 
Cabinet also endorsed an increase in Federal contributions to public hospital funding through the National Health Reform Agreement to a total share 45%, which will be phased in from 1 July 2025 over 10 years.
 
The total Federal contribution to public hospital funding currently stands at 41%.
 
Under the agreement that level will rise to 42.5% by 2030, then to 45% in the following five years.
 
‘Importantly, Australians want an approach to healthcare that recognises that primary care and hospital care are linked and that we need to strengthen primary care in order to take pressure off hospitals,’ Prime Minister Albanese said.
 
When asked about the extra funding for the Urgent Care Centres, the Prime Minister said it will mean more clinics but did not give a number.
 
He said that the 58 Urgent Care Centres introduced following a 2022 election promise had been ‘far more successful than we envisaged’.
 
The future of the NDIS was another headline issue for National Cabinet, with full details of a long-awaited NDIS Review due to be published later this week.
 
The review has been written by disability reformer and economist Professor Bruce Bonyhady and former senior public servant Lisa Paul, who were tasked with carrying out an analysis into the sustainability and effectiveness of the NDIS system.
 
State and Federal Ministers agreed to limit the growth in NDIS costs to 8% a year from 2026 at a previous National Cabinet meeting this year.
 
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Boris Tan   7/12/2023 9:00:59 AM

There's a workforce shortage (particularly in general practice).
Let's waste more more money opening more UCCs, who are going to be staffed by...GPs. Taking yet more GPs away from general practice while not funding the most cost effective part of the health care system 👏👏👏
Good process lads.

Dr Judith Helen Archibald   7/12/2023 9:32:04 AM

Couldn't agree more. Until the funding bodies understand the depth of dissatisfaction with these "nibbling at the edges" approaches general practice will continue to die

Dr Campbell Robert Crilly   7/12/2023 10:05:11 AM

If the politicians bothered to spend time in a general practice they just might see first hand the issues GP's are facing. Over regulation, increased work pressure, increased business costs, increasing patient demands, accreditation and continuing education demands, poor remuneration and burn out dealing with all of the above. Little wonder the next generation of doctors is not choosing general practice. Urgent care clinic do not help people in regional and remote Australia and I wonder where the staff will come from.

Dr Geeta Trehan   7/12/2023 10:59:52 AM

More funding down the drain ! why don't we leave urgent care to ED physicians who are trained to give it. Only 20% of patients presenting to hospital need to be admitted the rest can be discharged from the ED. The urgent care centres need to cater to the 80% and need the skill set of an ED consultant backed by RMO's and Interns. Why is the government hell bent on using GP's in Emergency settings when there are qualified specialists in the field ! Is it a act of ignorance or do they perceive us as the interns of the poorly managed health care system

Dr Angela Maree Roche   7/12/2023 11:30:17 AM

“Support” for “ older” Australians to avoid hospital admission or get discharged earlier! This is to “ reduce pressure on the hospital system” - the ideology is not around what is best or medically needed for the patient. I’m getting scared now . Define “ older”. The “ older” Australians with the actual diseases that require acute admission could end up getting caught up
In this. Could lead to delays in or denial of appropriate care and set a benchmark for the hospital system regarding age - is this even ethical? Look what happened in Victoria during the Covid epidemic where acutely unwell people with covid in ambulances were blocked from hospital admission by order of Government if came from nursing homes . Those hospitals turned those ambulances around and sent them back to the nursing home where they had no IVs , no Oxygen etc of course and they died . That was a human rights issue that has still not been addressed. How old is Mr Albanese?

Dr Angela Maree Roche   7/12/2023 12:38:06 PM

So no money for the actual crisis now - general practice. All money to save the hospitals. UCC are to save the ED supposedly. Is anyone going to be able to train enough mental health nurses to stem the tide of the mental health crisis that’s coming when the plummeting GP numbers are at dire levels in 10 years time? Are people in crisis going to be persuaded to see a nurse they have never seen to speak about their mental health crisis rather than the GP they know and have some trust in?

Dr Angela Maree Roche   7/12/2023 12:40:01 PM

Is the mental health nurse going to have enough training to pick up that the signs of this “ mental health crisis” is actually a physical illness ? I would say - no

Dr Abdul Ahad Khan   7/12/2023 6:16:55 PM

The RACGP has built an EMPIRE & is only interested in sustaining that EMPIRE.
The RACGP cares a Damn about the ' Death by a Thousand Cuts ' of us GPs at the Coalface.
DR. AHAD KHAN

Dr Abbas Mahmood   9/12/2023 6:25:56 PM

What work force they are going to fix hope not in Toorak, its about time for the health minister and prime minister hit the ground and visit a medical center's in regional Australia, the situation is such we as practice owners in the lower social suburbs in regional area we have no chance of recruiting newly qualified GPs, when there is limited numbers available it is understanding that they will chose clinics in the more affluent suburbs with most if not all of the patients speak good English, have better health literacy and they will be remunerated much better for their work, we have aging work force, working long hours and if they retire these clinics will close doors.