Australian Medical Association Limited
ABN 37 008 426 793
42 Macquarie Street, Barton ACT 2600: PO Box 6090, Kingston ACT 2604
Telephone: (02) 6270 5400 Facsimile (02) 6270 5499
DOCTORS SUPPORT COLLABORATIVE CARE, NOT
FRAGMENTED CARE
The AMA today reaffirmed that it does not support nurse practitioners working independently
of doctors.
AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the AMA supports meaningful collaborative
care arrangements between doctors and nurses under new measures that came into effect this
week, and welcomes Health Minister Roxon’s public confirmation that the arrangements will
not make nurse practitioners substitutes for doctors.
Dr Pesce said the Government and the health professions must be vigilant to ensure that the
new arrangements provide the best possible care for patients and that some proposed models of
care do not attempt to work against the spirit and the intent of the new legislation.
“Doctors support genuine collaborative care arrangements where doctors and nurses work
together to provide complete ongoing care for their patients,” Dr Pesce said.
“It is important that the family doctor remains involved in patient care through the
collaborative arrangements.
“We note comments from the Health Minister yesterday where she acknowledged that there
have been misinformed claims in the media this week about the effect of the new measures.
“There is no place for models of care that may seek to operate under the new system without
genuine collaborative arrangements between doctors and nurses, or which may distance the
patient from their family doctor.
“An AMA public survey earlier this year found that 88 per cent of Australians have a regular
family doctor and that 83 per cent of Australians were satisfied with the medical care they
received from their family doctor.
“The survey also found that 82 per cent of people agreed that the best outcome for patients is to
have doctors and nurses working together, and 76 per cent agreed that nurses cannot replace
family doctors because they lack the training to diagnose and treat the full range of illnesses.
“Proper medical diagnosis is at the heart of quality health care and must be at the heart of the
new collaborative care arrangements.
“Collaborative care must be all about complete patient health care, not the fragmentation of
health care.
“The AMA looks forward to working closely with the Government in monitoring and
reviewing the new collaborative arrangements as they are rolled out to ensure that only genuine
quality collaborative arrangements are in place to serve patients and communities.”
5 November 2010
CONTACT:
John Flannery
02 6270 5477 / 0419 494 761
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