Aims
1: Support and strengthening of General Practitioners as an integral part of the Community Health Centre (CHC) team
GPs in Community Health Centres (CHC) and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organsation’s (ACCHO) play a role in patient’s lives as part of a team that is very different to what might
be seen in private General Practice. Usually, they work in situations where the social, political, and commercial determinants of health are very evident, and patients have limited health literacy. GPs in this sector are often the lead in system navigation and coordination in managing complex health requirements. They lead the multidisciplinary team that supports these patients with complex needs.
This is in line with comprehensive health care and a focus on prevention and early interventionand hence reduces demand for hospital services. Work by GPs in Community Health aligns with
recommendations on best use of GP’s in the 2022 Grattan Report A New Medicare: Strengthening General Practice.
2: Comprehensive, Multidisciplinary input to planning, research and evaluation by the State Government
Health professionals should be involved in planning change in community health because they understand the difficulties in providing health care to vulnerable populations and are highly skilled in adapting the delivery of clinical care to meet complex needs. CEO’s or People with lived experiences alone cannot
provide this wide lensed view of care. Feedback from the ground up is essential in guiding research and developing more meaningful outcome measures in governance and in integrated models of care, and we ask that there are currently practicing clinicians included in all Government committees about health care.
3: Committed State Government funding for the medical and nursing care of priority needs groups- including after-hours care
Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) funding alone is not sufficient for an integrated, multidisciplinary service that provides services to the most vulnerable, including after-hours care.
Recent AIHW data (Feb 2023- (2) shows that Culturally and Linguistically Diverse people have higher rates of chronic disease once they have been in Australia more than 10 years. If they have low English, the rates are higher. We also know that people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent, peoplehave insecure housing, people living with disability and people affected by Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) also have higher rates of chronic disease. It is these populations that community health serves. But to help these populations maintain health, and prevent hospital admissions, they have frequent, long, visits to their General Practitioners. MBS rebates alone are unable to adequately fund this level of complex, multidisciplinary care. Targeted funding of health services, including GPs and nurses, will enable continuance of care to those with complex needs.
