Rural General Practitioner FRACGP MBBS BAppSc. Passionate about point-of-care technologies and improving the patient experience. Undertaking further training in Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) and use of AI in health
Nurses, pharmacists, and allied health professionals are vital to healthcare delivery, offering extensive education, specialised expertise, and invaluable contributions to patient care. A multidisciplinary, interprofessional collaborative model benefits both patients and the healthcare system. However, it is critical to acknowledge that medical supervision is necessary to guarantee patient safety and uphold high standards of care, especially for complex and undifferentiated medical conditions. Cutting costs should never come at the expense of care quality or ensuring an adequate number of medical doctors. The long-term economic implications of fragmented care are detrimental, often leading to increased complications, rehospitalisations, and overall higher costs for the healthcare system. Efficient use of resources should enhance, not undermine, the integrity and efficacy of patient care. When we erode the quality of patient care, we chip away at the foundation of our healthcare system. It's not just about the immediate impact on patients; it's about the long-term implications for public health and trust in our medical institutions. Every compromise in care reverberates through the system, making it weaker and less effective for everyone. Slogans like "full potential," "removing barriers," "true collaboration," and "sustainability" ring hollow when stark reality and common sense reveal the negative consequences of thinly veiled cost-cutting ("economising") disguised as (pseudo) collaborative initiatives. It’s essential to align ambitious rhetoric with practical, evidence-based actions to truly benefit patient care and the healthcare system.
The federal government must exercise caution in its response to the final report of the Scope of Practice Review. AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen is quoted in the Medical Journal of Australia's Insight+ this week: “We have always been very supportive of enhancing collaborative multidisciplinary care and ensuring all health professionals can work to their full breadth of scope in primary care, but this requires better funding models and improvements to the many reforms currently underway in general practice, such as MyMedicare". Many of the recommendations in the report would ultimately fragment patient care and undermine the key role of GPs in delivering high quality care for patients. We will continue to advocate to the federal government for meaningful reforms that improve access to care for the community. Read more: https://lnkd.in/g5iVUEps #auspol
Louise Stone
2mo
Yes, team based care is important. However, this doesn't mean every team should be co-located. Consumers should have options so they can choose the best person for their particular circumstances. And in the not so distant past, we were concerned about the conflicts of interest in referring "in house"
Doctor in obesity and weight loss medicine
2moThis comment by Phillip McGeorge on the Scope of Practice Review completely echoes my sentiments: Professor Mark Cormack calls it an “ambitious program … to deliver high quality, equitable, integrated and sustainable healthcare”. It is hard to see how downgrading medical care to nurses and osteopaths is “high quality”, how encouraging non-medical consultations is equitable, how fragmenting medical care to allied health practitioners is “integrated”, or how further eroding the role of the GP creates “sustainable healthcare”. These are simple platitudes and nonsense to pull the wool over the Health Ministers eyes. The report should be filed where it belongs, in the bin.