Professional News: August 2010

Don’t drop the baton!

The process to achieve national registration and accreditation for health professionals has been tortuous. An incredible amount of work has been generated over past years in reviewing and revising underpinning policy and creating new policies and guidelines for the establishment of the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS). “D-Day” – 1 July 2010 – marked a critical moment in history when, for the first time in Australia, all nurses and midwives became registered on a central national database.

Since the Labor Government took office in late 2007 the nursing and midwifery professions have experienced further unprecedented reforms and funding initiatives, including: access to the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) for the clients of nurse practitioners and eligible midwives; funding injections into the aged care sector for nurse practitioners, support to upgrade qualifications and to research staffing levels and aged care needs; the promise of the removal of the ‘for and on behalf of’ funding arrangement for general practice nurses; and the proposed implementation of personally controlled electronic health records which will fundamentally change the way information is communicated between health professionals and consumers of health and aged care.

The foregoing can rightly be viewed as the culmination of many written submissions, appearances at public hearings and personal meetings with politicians and bureaucrats, by the ANF and other nursing and midwifery groups, all with the aim of presenting the plethora of existing evidence to justify nurses and midwives taking a more prominent role in health and aged care delivery in this country. Experiences throughout the development and lead up to the implementation of the NRAS warn us that we must keep a constant watching-brief on the fine print of policies and processes concerning nursing and midwifery regulation and practice standards. Likewise we must be vigilant regarding protocols established to govern education of nurses and midwives, and maintain the ANF’s stance on university based undergraduate educational preparation for our beginning nursing and midwifery clinicians. We are in a climate of reform which promises to enable nurses and midwives to practice to their full scope and thereby deliver more comprehensive health and aged care to our community.

The ANF has articulated the Federation’s policy positions to the political parties and to the voting public in this edition of the ANJ and via our website. It is imperative that the election process and ongoing governance of Australia not interfere with the progress of reform and creation of policies to enhance the professional practice of nurses and midwives and the resultant improved health outcomes for our nation. For the sake of our professions and the recipients of our care we cannot afford to ‘drop the baton’ on influencing positive, sensible progressive policy formulation.

Elizabeth Foley
ANF Federal Professional Officer