The Rudd Government today released the draft of Australia's first National Primary Health Care Strategy.
The Primary Care Strategy focuses on what Government can do to improve the frontline health care that Australians depend on, including the care delivered by GPs and other frontline health professionals like physiotherapists, psychologists and pharmacists.
Australia's health system is facing a number of key challenges including:
* an ageing population
* rising rates of chronic disease
* the need to address the health needs of rural, remote and Indigenous communities.
The Strategy has a strong focus on meeting these key challenges of the future.
The strategy reinforces and builds on the work of the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission - providing the next level of detail that sits below the Commission's broad priorities.
It provides us with a draft roadmap to guide future policy and practice in primary care in Australia, ensuring we are building a system that cares for the most vulnerable in our community and a system that is connected with the patient at the centre.
The Government is determined to get health reform right.
Stakeholder input has been crucial in developing the draft strategy, with more than 260 submissions received in response to the discussion paper.
Following the recent release of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission's landmark report the Government has begun a national conversation on health reform with the Australian people.
Today's consultation at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth is the tenth consultation held by the Government. Over 20,000 hits have been received on the Government's yourhealth.gov.au website - around 600 per day since the site was launched.
The three most popular topics explored on the site to date are hospitals and emergency departments, e-health, and primary care/general practice.
The release of the draft strategy today will further inform that discussion.
Development of the draft strategy has been assisted by an External Reference Group (ERG) with membership comprising primary health care experts from around Australia, including a pharmacist, a midwife, a physiotherapist, a psychologist, a general practice nurse, a consumer representative, primary care academics and strong representation from general practice, including those with Indigenous, rural and remote experience.
The Government thanks Dr Tony Hobbs, who chaired the ERG, and all members of the group who gave so generously of their time, experience and knowledge to inform the development of the draft strategy and its supporting report.