States and territories should move quickly to remove barriers preventing nurses from working to their full scope of practice and unlock $60 million in commonwealth incentive payments, the Australian College of Nursing says.
The Australian College of Nursing has called on states and territories to detail the scope-of-practice reforms they will introduce to secure a share of $60 million in new commonwealth incentive funding.
The federal government has pledged the payments from its $900 million National Productivity Fund to jurisdictions that remove barriers preventing health professionals from using their full skills and qualifications.
The Productivity Commission has estimated scope-of-practice reforms could deliver almost $300 million in annual budget savings and boost GDP by up to $1.2 billion annually, according to the ACN.
ACN chief executive Adjunct Professor Kathryn Zeitz said the funding provided a significant incentive for jurisdictions to act.
“They must look specifically at the barriers that are preventing nurses from using all of their skills and expertise in healthcare delivery,” Professor Zeitz said.
Treasurers have identified enabling registered nurses to prescribe and administer medicines consistently across jurisdictions, in accordance with their qualifications, as one area for reform.
Related
“RN prescribing is an excellent start. State and territory health services need support to ensure this new role can thrive to improve access to high-quality, efficiently delivered prescribing across all healthcare settings,” Professor Zeitz said.
However, the ACN said prescribing reforms represented only part of the changes required to enable nurses to work to their full scope.
It also called for changes to federal health funding arrangements, arguing nurse practitioner-led clinics remained unable to register for MyMedicare or access practice incentives available to GP-owned clinics.
“Australia spends more per person on health than most of the OECD yet still records more avoidable hospital admissions than comparable countries – care that better use of nurses could prevent,” Professor Zeitz said.
“Health funding reform to let nurses do this work is now critical.”
Also in today’s edition:
- ‘Too much for the system to bear’: SDPR leaders rethink rollout
- Senate backs Greens motion as pressure mounts over aged care algorithm
- NDIS reforms become bargaining tool in property tax law
- AI adoption depends on something most healthcare organisations don’t measure
- Women struggling to access mental health services
- CSL plunges to $2.6bn full-year loss