Butler health system primary care7/25/2023 ![]() “Nurses are critical healthcare professionals in the Australian health system and are at the core of many of these reforms. “The Albanese Government, led by Health Minister Mark Butler, is driving a range of important reforms across the system – including primary care, aged care, Medicare, the PBS, and the health workforce” Ms Ward said. Mr Comley, who is an experienced public service leader at both Federal and State levels, takes over from retiring Secretary, Professor Brendan Murphy, from 17 July 2023.ĪCN CEO, Adjunct Professor Kylie Ward FACN, said Mr Comley comes to the role at a vital time for the Australian health system. But there were also examples of the wider team supporting GPs’ work: social prescribers supporting patients to understand the services that are available to local disabled people, reception teams knowledgeable about disability and supporting access to appointments, and networks of GPs like this one enabling them to share information about good practice resources.The Australian College of Nursing (ACN) welcomes the announcement of Blair Comley as the next Secretary of the Department of Health and Aged Care. For example, patients are ‘bounced back’ to their GP if their needs for access are ignored or not facilitated by secondary care, or if care workers for a person with severe learning disabilities were not able to adequately describe the symptoms that needed addressing. What struck me most from talking to these GPs was the extent to which their own ability to support disabled patients relied on the practical processes and information systems, other colleagues, and wider health and care system partners. Good practice resources were available, but often developed by GPs who had noticed the lack rather than consistently produced and disseminated, and not all in this group were aware of them. Where teams were less aware, GPs could feel alone in their attempts to support disabled patients. Some had good experiences of practices where the team was aware of access issues, and reception staff supported GPs by highlighting a patient’s communication needs to the GP and helping address them before their appointment. Unsurprisingly, the pressures GPs are under at present came up repeatedly but the variation between practices was also evident. While some of the access issues GPs highlighted were familiar, relating to physical access to GP practices in older buildings, or fixed examination beds, issues like booking an appointment highlight how access is not straightforward. However, these solutions were not necessarily compatible with how patients booked appointments on online systems – for example, patients often don’t have the option to request a double appointment or flag their access needs. GPs told me about some of the ways they aimed to reduce barriers for patients – for example, double appointments for a patient with additional communication needs, or seeing a patient who might struggle in a busy waiting room at the start of a session. I was asked to talk about health equity for disabled people, and during the session we discussed access for disabled patients, the issues GPs encounter trying to reduce these barriers and what solutions might look like. These GPs meet regularly to share best practice on reducing health inequalities for marginalised groups in the places they work. In March 2023 I met with a group of GPs on the East of England Trailblazer Deprivation Fellowship Scheme, which supports newly qualified GPs working in areas with high deprivation. It’s vital that we tackle ableism in health care – so what can GPs do? Poor experiences trying to access primary care can lead to people giving up on engaging with health care, with all the risks that entails. The review also found that more than a third of health professionals have never received training about this standard, despite it being a legal requirement for all NHS organisations since 2016. The experiences of people with communication needs in general practice are particularly stark – a recent review of the Accessible Information Standard highlighted that only half of this group had an accessible way to contact their GP.
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