More Choice For Consumers As Nurse Practitioners Get Mbs And Pbs Access

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1st November 2010, 02:39pm - Views: 990





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The industrial and professional organisation for nurses and midwives in Australia


Canberra Office (Professional Services)


Unit 3, 28 Eyre Street  Kingston  ACT  2604 

Australia 

PO Box 4239  Kingston  ACT  2604  Australia

+ 61 2 6232 6533 (T)   + 61 2 6232 6610 (F) 

anfcanberra@anf.org.au

Melbourne Office (Industrial Services)


Level 1, 365 Queen Street  Melbourne  VIC  3000 

Australia

+ 61 3 9602 8500 (T)   + 61 3 9602 8567 (F)

industrial@anf.org.au

anfmelbourne@anf.org.au 

ANF Journals


Australian Nursing Journal 

Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing

anj@anf.org.au   ajan@anf.org.au

ABN 41 816 898 298







media release

More choice for consumers as nurse practitioners get MBS and PBS

access 

1 November 2010

The Australian Nursing Federation is very pleased that today nurse practitioners and

eligible midwives will be able to offer their patients access to MBS and PBS rebates.


While some details are still being debated, assistant secretary Yvonne Chaperon said

this legislation has the potential to greatly increase affordable access to health

professionals for all patients.

 

“The way the legislation is set up, a patient can potentially walk in off the street,

access the services of a nurse practitioner and receive benefits,” she said. 


She said it was clear that the community wanted the option of seeing a nurse

practitioner if they needed to. The nurse-led clinic in Canberra, staffed by nurse

practitioners and advanced practice nurses, opened mid this year. In the first two

months 2,400 patients were seen at this clinic. 


“This is the community voting with their feet and should surely silence those critics

from the medical profession who are convinced the community only want to see a

doctor,” Ms Chaperon said.


“Nurse practitioners have master’s degrees, extensive clinical practice expertise and

many, many years of experience. This is great news for consumers who want

affordable, quality care without long waiting times.”


This comes as a new survey reveals nurse care is highly valued by the community.


The Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute (APHCRI) at ANU and

Health Care Consumers’ Association of the ACT (HCCA) survey found that most

Australians would be happy to visit nurse practitioners. 

The research found nurses are excellent advocates for their patients and are able to

provide them with more choice and better access to primary care in terms of

affordability and shorter waiting times.

The ANF looks forward to working with the federal government to address any

issue that may arise in the roll out of this legislation.


Media: Eleni Hale, Media Advisor, 0458892999









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