The Australian College of Nursing (ACN) is urging all political parties to back a new vision for Australia’s healthcare sector by fully adopting the recommendations of the Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce – Scope of Practice Review. This move, ACN argues, is key to improving access to quality, affordable health services for Australians nationwide.
Led by Professor Mark Cormack, the review delivers practical and cost-effective steps to expand the roles of nurses, nurse practitioners, midwives and allied health professionals – in partnership with doctors – to better meet rising demand.
ACN CEO, Adjunct Professor Kathryn Zeitz FACN, emphasised the urgent need to reshape Medicare and its funding approach: “It is time to update Medicare and the health system with new thinking and new funding models to achieve the maximum benefit of the skill sets of all health professions.”
Adjunct Professor Zeitz highlighted the wide reach of the nursing workforce and the strain in rural communities: “Nurses are the largest workforce in Australia, and they live and work in large numbers in every electorate across the nation. In some communities, nurses are the only health professionals in town. As more doctors retire in rural and remote Australia – with no younger doctors moving out of the cities to replace them – country people will miss out on quality care if nurses are not empowered to work to their full scope of practice, using all their clinical skills and knowledge and experience.”
According to Adjunct Professor Zeitz, Australia has long seen success with nurse-led clinics, proving the adaptability of the profession:
“Nurse-led clinics and services have been operating successfully in Australia for decades. We need more of them. Nursing is an agile, versatile and highly educated profession with skilled professionals working in every health setting across Australia.”
To strengthen the nursing workforce, ACN calls for fresh policies that boost recruitment, retention and the return of former nurses: “We need policies and funding to attract more people to the profession, retain nurses and midwives in life-long careers, and entice nurses who are not working as nurses back to the profession. It is estimated there are around 70,000 trained nurses working in jobs other than nursing. We need to actively promote the positive image of modern nursing to bring them back to the job they love.”
In addition to the Scope of Practice reforms, ACN’s election blueprint outlines proposals to address issues affecting underserved urban areas as well as rural, regional, and remote communities. These recommendations aim to ensure nurses and midwives can provide immediate, effective solutions to Australia’s pressing health workforce challenges.
Ritchelle is a Content Producer for Healthcare Channel, Australia’s premier resource of information for healthcare.
