Paramedics can play bigger role in health outcomes
With every budget comes new initiatives, new funding for one area of government and less funding for another.
However, in every budget, health is always front and centre. This year, when the dust of the budget frenzy finally settles, the question will be, what improvements in healthcare are we actually left with?
The federal budget was full of healthcare headlines but with little detail revealed about how the health system will be improved, what innovative new models of care will look like, or who will resource these initiatives. One very simple question still remains: why are paramedics being overlooked?
Paramedics are a highly skilled health workforce that is registered, educated and trained to deliver highquality care in any out-of-hospital situation, yet the continued omission of this integral workforce from primary care team-based models and urgent care centres should be deeply concerning for the nation.
Put simply, doctors and nurses are stretched, and, while bulk-billing support and increased funding across healthcare will greatly help, it doesn’t solve the issue of patient access and workforce demands.
For so long paramedics have been the last line of defence for out-ofhospital care, it is time for them to take their position at the front and contribute to a healthcare solution.
Paramedics can provide the workforce support and capability that is needed in those primary and urgent care teams to help meet the system demands, ease workforce pressures and improve person-centred care.
What paramedics can offer primary and urgent care models are extended hours, efficient triage, and high-quality top of scope patient treatment, just to name a few.
By including community paramedics in primary and urgent care models, some direct impacts we could expect would include reduced patient wait times, increased service capacity and improved health outcomes for patients overall.
It would also ease strain on GP capacity as paramedics would be able to support emergency presentations, chronic disease care, preventative care and coaching. Ensuring that every Australian has access to emergency, urgent and primary care is essential in managing the bigger healthcare picture for the country.
If people can’t access a primary care practitioner, chronic health outcomes will worsen, preventative care will cease to be effective and EDS will continue to see waiting rooms overflowing with people desperate for treatment. For an effective primary and urgent health system that improves health outcomes for people across Australia, paramedics need to be part of the picture.