GREENS RAISE STAKES IN PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS CAMPAIGN

Potential to Boost Health Workforce and Services

Paul O’Halloran MP
Greens Health spokesperson
Tuesday, 25 September 2012

The Tasmanian Greens today increased the pressure on their campaign to have Physician Assistants recognised and included in the state’s health workforce, saying they can boost services in rural and regional areas.

Greens Health spokesperson Paul O’Halloran MP said that a recent pilot study conducted in Queensland demonstrated that where utilised Physician Assistants were found to have contributed positively to patient care and service delivery.

“Since I released the Greens’ proposal last month, both Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory have moved on introducing Physician Assistants respectively,” Mr O’Halloran said.

“We will be giving both Labor and Liberal the opportunity to have a say tomorrow when we will be bringing on for debate our motion calling for an immediate investigation into the best way to introduce Physician Assistants into our workforce.”

“Following the release of our proposal we have been overwhelmed by the positive response we have received from health workers and the broader public, including the Premier’s verbal in-principle support for the concept.”

“PAs have the potential to inject versatility on the ground to the benefit of our overworked nurses and doctors, as well as the community who are struggling to access medical services, especially in our rural and regional areas.”

“Crucially, due to the complementary nature of this PA role, they can reduce the costs and funding strains on our health system, as it can reduce the reliance on GP locums as well as facilitate earlier intervention that prevents health complaints escalating into more extreme and expensive medical problems for patients.”

“It is known that locums cost an approximate $10 million each year in the state’s north-west alone, which is disproportionate across the state as a whole.”

“Clearly we need to get cracking on investigating how best to implement a state PA scheme as we know that not only is our health system buckling under its costs now, but it is expected to consume the entire State Budget by 2030. Hopefully the House of Assembly will vote to get this moving tomorrow,” Mr O’Halloran said.

• Text of Motion tabled by Greens Health spokesperson Paul O’Halloran MP:

That this House notes:
1. The Health Workforce Australia Report released on Friday 24 August this year which demonstrated that there is a place and a demand for physician assistants in Australia, particularly in rural, remote and regional locations;
2. That a recent poll on the Australian Doctor Website indicated majority support for physician assistants being the preferred solution to workforce shortages in rural general practice;
3. That a Pilot Study was conducted in Queensland, with a report released in 2010 looking predominantly at the role of Physician Assistants in rural/ regional setting;
4. That this report demonstrated that all sites where Physician Assistant’s were deployed, they were considered to have contributed to improved system functioning through appropriate delegation and streamlined patient processes, were accepted well by Nurses and Doctors (despite both professions having voiced concerns before the study), and that patients were satisfied by the care they received;
5. That the Queensland Parliament has since this study, recently amended the Queensland Poisons Act to allow Physician Assistants to operate in the Queensland Health System and the Australian Capital Territory has since followed suit;
6. That the Queensland study looked into and reported on the legislative and regulatory requirements that would need to be overcome in order to allow Physician Assistants to operate;
7. Recognises that the addition of Physician Assistants to complement our current professional health workforce can deliver more effective, timely and efficient medical services to communities, especially in rural and regional areas; and
Paul O’Halloran MP Greens Health spokesperson Tuesday, 25 September 2012