The Tasmanian Greens today reminded the Health Minister Michelle O’Byrne, that although the implementation of nurse practitioners is a positive step in delivering more robust health system for the west coast, there was still more to be done.
Greens Health spokesperson, Paul O’Halloran MP, said that his office was organising a community forum for next month so that west coast locals had the opportunity to discuss their concerns and potential solutions.
“The Minister’s announcement yesterday that they intend to employ nurse practitioners on the west coast is a fantastic initiative and one that the Greens have been driving, however there are still obvious gaps in the system that need to be addressed,” said Mr O’Halloran.
“On September the 9th I will be hosting a public meeting in Strahan where I will be outlining how the Greens would approach the decline in health services on the west coast as well as listen to people’s concerns and ideas.”
“Strahan currently has no after hours medical service and is relying on volunteers from a neighbouring town in the event of an emergency. This puts unwarranted pressure on volunteers and leaves the Strahan community in a highly vulnerable position.”
“For some time I have been urging the Minister to consider health workforce diversification options such as wider use of nurse practitioners and introducing physician assistants.”
“Employing physician’s assistants as well nurse practitioners would add an extra layer of strength and flexibility to our health workforce and I will continue to advocate for this to happen.”
“We’ve won progress on nurse practitioners and we will now keep pursuing the introduction of physician’s assistants to bolster access to regional and rural health services,” Mr O’Halloran said.
Download: Fact Sheet: Physician Assistants:
Fact_Sheet_Physician_Assistants_Tas_Greens_Aug_2012.pdf
Paul O’Halloran MP Greens Health Spokesperson
