Allied Health Insights Vol.2, No.5: 2023 Australian Federal Budget – The Allied Health Response
While the 2023-2024 Federal Budget’s $3.5bn Medicare allocation could considerably improve access to multidisciplinary primary care, it runs the risk of being a one-size-fits-all solution that lacks a workforce planning strategy which includes allied health.
This allocation covers a number of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce Reviewrecommendations that will impact allied health, including increased funding for multidisciplinary-enabling initiatives such as the Workforce Incentive Program (WIP) and Primary Health Networks (PHNs).
Boosted multidisciplinary primary care will be facilitated via My Medicare, part of the Taskforce’s overhaul of Medicare’s digital infrastructure. GPs have welcomed increased funding for WIP,although whether that translates to more AHPs being employed in general practice remains to be seen.
The budget reveals a kick-off of funding to expand scopes of practice for non-medical health care professionals as well as funding for a Scope of Practice Review.
According to Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler: “We cannot build a more collaborative primary care system, or support practitioners to work autonomously, unless we are prepared to get rid of the red tape and outdated silos that prevent team-based care. That goes not just for nurses, midwives and allied health, but for pharmacists as well.” The budget announcement is spearheading this with funding for “up to 6,000 nursing students to do clinical placements in primary care services around the country.”
Allied Health Professions Australia (AHPA) praised the 2023-24 Australian federal budget’s support for a sustainable, consumer-focused primary health care system, and its recognition of multidisciplinary care teams and investment in allied health professionals, though it called for greater accountability in the use of funds and warned against a one-size-fits-all model. AHPA welcomed $79.4m over four years for multidisciplinary healthcare, but warned that without a strategy for workforce development, access to essential services may remain poor, particularly in rural and remote areas.
AHPA was critical of the budget’s lack of funding for an allied health workforce strategy—something it has been recommending since the commencement of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce. AHPA CEO Bronwyn Morris-Donovan stated: ” we are very disappointed that no funding has been allocated to develop an allied health workforce strategy. There is still no nationally consistent collection and integration of allied health workforce data. This results in fragmented, inconsistent approaches to workforce and service planning.”
Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia is broadly in favour of the budget, particularly the patient-focused healthcare measures: “Key pharmacy programs – to support vaccination, opioid dependence treatment, medication review services for patients and the Regional Pharmacy Maintenance Allowance – will benefit from $1.3 billion in investment. We welcome measures to reduce pressure on public hospitals and emergency departments in response to the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce Report, such as tripling of bulk billing incentives and establishing Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, further improving medicines affordability for patients while supporting collaborative team-based care to improve medicines safety.”
