LOUISE MILLER-FROST, FEDERAL MEMBER FOR BOOTHBY: I'm Louise Miller-Frost, I'm the federal member for Boothby. Those of you who know my background know I worked in the health sector for a long time, and I actually worked in the primary health care sector. So I'm not clinical, but I really value clinical staff in the primary health care sector. Primary health care is such a key part of the health sector. It's the health promotion, health prevention, early intervention that actually keeps people healthy in the community and out of hospital. And it's a really important part about our quality of life. Obviously, the federal government is heavily involved in that through the MBS and PBS, but I'm really thrilled to have Assistant Minister Ged Kearney here today for another really exciting announcement about workforce in the primary health care sector. Ged, come on through.
GED KEARNEY, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Thanks, Louise. You can do that every time.
MILLER-FROST: Excellent.
KEARNEY: Good morning everybody. My name is Ged Kearney, and I'm the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, and I'm very pleased to be here today in gorgeous Adelaide with some wonderful nursing colleagues of mine, because, as you know, I was a nurse for many years. We have with us Karen Booth, the Australian Primary Care Nurses Association president, Ken Griffin who is around you, who is the CEO of that wonderful organisation. We have Melanie Dunstan from the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners, and we have Annie Butler, who is the national secretary of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation. And most importantly, we have with us some amazing student nurses who have been doing clinical placements in primary health care.
So the point of today's announcement is to say that we need more student placements in primary health care. The vast majority of student nurses get their experience, their clinical placement experience, in what we call the acute or tertiary sector. So that is in our large public hospitals, and that is where they tend to stay. It's very difficult for nurses to get clinical placements in the primary health care sector. Those placements are often with smaller primary health care clinics, with individual GPs, within our Aboriginal community-controlled health sector, and it's very difficult for universities to organise that and to access that. So I'm pleased to announce today that the Australian government is going to invest $4.2 million to increase clinical placements in primary health care to up to 6000 student nurses. Because we know when they get experience in those primary health care placements, they get the best experience of what it's like to work in primary health care, and they are more likely to stay in primary health care and make that their career because it is a vastly rewarding, it is essential and important part of our health care system. And as Louise said, if we invest in primary health care, we keep people well, we keep people out of hospital, and we make sure that the Australian community is the healthiest it can possibly be.
So we need more nurses in primary health care. And I'm sure this initiative today, which is going to be administered, I'm very pleased to say, by the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association, they will administer this program for us and make sure that our nurses get the best experience they possibly can. And of course, this announcement is on the back of another important initiative of the Australian government that has started, and that is that nurse practitioners who practise independently will get a 30 per cent increase on their Medicare rebate. Now, this is incredibly important to make practise for nurse practitioners, independent practice, financially viable. A massive increase in their income, which means that more Australians have more choice and more access when it comes to primary health care. More nurse practitioners that can work out there, the more points of access there are for people to access primary health care.
So these are two great initiatives that we are highlighting today. I'd like to hand over to Karen now to say a few words.
KAREN BOOTH, AUSTRALIAN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE NURSES ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT: Great. Thank you, Minister Kearney. I would like to say that this announcement for 6000 nursing student placements, for clinical placements, will be a game changer. We know that 25 to 30 per cent of a nursing workforce actually works in primary care. Yet we also know that very few nurses, student nurses, at this point in time get access to clinical placements and training in primary care. So this is going to open up a whole pile of new opportunities for experience and growing our workforce that we haven't previously had. I think for young nurses, it will open up career options for them. They're not just going to be thinking, I need to work in a hospital. The health of the community, we know that between 80 and 90 per cent of people are seen in primary health care centres every year, whether that be GP practices, Aboriginal health services or other primary care services. So very, very exciting. We'll build the workforce, and the future is looking very good. Thank you.
KEARNEY: Thanks, Karen. I might ask Melanie to say a few words.
MELANIE DUNSTAN, AUSTRALIAN COLLEGE OF NURSE PRACTITIONERS PRESIDENT: Hello, I'm Melanie from the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners, and this is a very exciting time for nurse practitioners and our patients. I just had a nurse practitioner tap me on the shoulder in the plenary this morning and say, it's so exciting to be a nurse practitioner right now. And we've already seen our patients get excited as well. So it's great for access and to improve timely access for people to be able to see a nurse practitioner, particularly in primary health care. And I'm seeing nurse practitioners being excited to work in primary care, which is super exciting, and to have that flow of nurse practitioners coming through from our nursing students is really exciting.
KEARNEY: Thank you. Annie?
ANNIE BUTLER, AUSTRALIAN NURSING AND MIDWIFERY ASSOCIATION FEDERAL SECRETARY: Hi, I'm Annie Butler, federal secretary of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation. Now we represent more than 340,000 nurses, midwives and care workers across the country. They work in every sector, and we are so excited about these initiatives being announced today, because we know that primary health care is the answer. We know that quality clinical placements lead to better transition into those areas. And so we welcome Ged's announcements today. And because we know that when we get this right in primary health care, encouraging nurses and midwives and supporting them to do their best work out in primary health care, we’re going to take the pressures off the acute system. We're going to relieve those pressure points across all areas of the health care system and just lead to better health outcomes for all. So it's a terrific announcement today.
KEARNEY: Thanks very much. Does anyone have any questions?
JOURNALIST: I suppose, Minister Kearney, how important is it that we grow the placements and get more nurses in the primary sector, as opposed to just working in the hospital?
KEARNEY: We think that this is incredibly important because if we keep people healthy in their communities through a broad range of services in the primary health care sector, they won't have to go to hospital. It will take a lot of pressure off our EDs. It will take a lot of pressure off the hospitals in-patient services because the primary purpose of primary health care is to keep people well and to keep them out of hospital. And that is incredibly important.
JOURNALIST: And I suppose, how much could this mean for our health system?
KEARNEY: Well, of course, yes, it is more efficient to care for people in the community when they can see their primary health care health professionals from home. They don't need to go into hospital, which we know is a very expensive part of the health system, the tertiary end so it is much more efficient, it's much more effective, and it is much better outcome for patients to be kept healthy in their communities.
JOURANLIST: Yes. I just have a couple of questions about the cabinet reshuffle. So, will Andrew Giles and Clare O'Neil keep their portfolios?
KEARNEY: All of these decisions will be announced by the Prime Minister on Sunday. And I think it's probably just best if we wait until those announcements are made. He's the primary architect of the reshuffle.
JOURNALIST: I've just got one more. Will the changes be minor given the importance the PM places on stability?
KEARNEY: I think the Prime Minister has made it very clear that he has utmost confidence in his cabinet. So we will hear what his decisions are on Sunday.
JOURNALIST: We've heard today reports about saline shortage globally and also seeing that here in Australia. What are your concerns about hearing that?
KEARNEY: Yes, I have heard that. In fact, I was visiting a hospital here in Adelaide just yesterday and I saw signs on the walls in the wards saying, you know, please be very careful with your use of saline. This is a global supply shortage. We expect it to continue for some months. To manage this, the TGA has approved the import and use of alternative products, and there are other products that are in that process at the moment waiting to be approved by the TGA. So we hope to alleviate that shortage through that process.
JOURNALIST: You said you were a former nurse, I understand. Can you walk me through how- it might be a question for Annie as well. How significant is saline in the hospital system? How much is it used?
KEARNEY: It is used a lot. Maybe I could ask one of the current nurses to answer that question.
ANNIE BUTLER: A lot
[Laughter]
KEARNEY: It's incredibly important. It's used if somebody presents with dehydration from gastro issues or from a heavy bleed, until they can be cross-matched. It's an incredibly important part of a person's physiology to be well hydrated, and normal saline is the go to fluid for that- one of the go to fluids. There are a couple. It's also used to mix medication. So if you're having medication given via an IV it's often mixed with normal saline. There's a myriad of uses for normal saline in the health system. It's an essential part of care.
JOURNALIST: So how crucial is it that we have enough?
KEARNEY: It is crucial. And that's why the TGA is working incredibly hard to make sure that there are alternatives that can be used. And as I said, there are more applications in the process to make sure that we have enough.
JOURNALIST: Just for Annie about the upcoming cabinet reshuffle, if that’s alright. I suppose, what do you think the outcome is going to be, or what's your opinion on the upcoming promotions?
ANNIE BUTLER: Well, as Ged said, obviously that's up to the party- the government, and we will see on Sunday. It is an opportunity for the ANMF to say we would really welcome having a nurse elevated. I think I'll just be bold enough to say that, because I think I can see some nursing colleagues and midwifery colleagues out in the crowd. What do you think about getting a nurse around at the absolute inner table? A senior ministry advocating for us in cabinet? Can I hear a response?
[Applause]
Okay. Well, because it is really important for us. I've just told you the size of our trade union, we are the largest trade union in the country. Right now there are about 400,000 nurses and midwives across the country working in the system. And yet we still don't have the voice that we really need to have inside government. So I'm putting a pitch forward to say I would welcome having a nurse round that cabinet table. And I believe there's a couple of vacancies at the moment. Thanks very much. I'll deal with the fallout later.
KEARNEY: I think we might leave the questions there. Thanks very much everyone.
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