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
NEWS 
