Transcript - Work In Work Out trial

Transcript: AMA Queensland President, Dr Maria Boulton, Sky News Regional, Breakfast with Lucy Polkinghorne, Tuesday 20 June 2023

Subjects:   60-day dispensing, regional healthcare workforce initiatives

LUCY POLKINGHORNE:   I'm joined by Dr Maria Boulton from the Australian Medical Association Queensland. Doctor, thank you so much for joining us this morning. What do you make of these concerns made by regional and rural pharmacists?

DR MARIA BOULTON:   This was a recommendation that the federal government took up. The recommendation was made by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) due to concerns over patients being able to afford medications, but also accessing those medications. Basically, the reform means that patients will be able to access a 12-month script from their GP for medications that they're on for chronic disease and that they're stable on. They will also be able to access a 60 day dispense script from the pharmacy.

We've been told by the government that whatever savings are made, and bearing in mind that there will be significant savings for patients, but whatever savings are made in terms of pharmacy prescribing will be reinvested back into pharmacy. Every health workforce is stretched in rural and remote areas, and it is important that those pharmacies have the support that they need and that money gets reinvested into pharmacy.

LUCY POLKINGHORNE:   So you don't believe that pharmacies in rural and regional areas will be impacted by this scheme?

DR MARIA BOULTON:   I think the whole of the entire workforce is already impacted in rural and remote areas, and it is really important that the governments, both state and federal, support those workforces. There have been two reports released. We're still looking at the detail on that, but at the end of the day, I'm a GP and when I have a patient sitting across from me saying, "Dr Maria, I'm on three medications and I'm finding it really difficult to afford them, what medicine can I do without this month?", I think at the end of the day, we need to think about the patients, and we know that this is going to make it easier for patients to access those medicines.

LUCY POLKINGHORNE:   Moving on now, the federal government has announced a $1.5 million grant to trial the Work In Work Out project, bringing health professionals to selected rural and remote communities. What is your understanding on how this trial will work?

DR MARIA BOULTON:   Our understanding is that this trial will be rolled out through some regions in Queensland, MM3-7 areas, and it will involve allied health professionals going to communities in the first instance, seeing patients, but then taking over their care by telehealth, returning to where they come from. And it's really essential. That workforce is very pressured in rural and remote, particularly in Queensland where we have a very decentralised population. It is really important that we look at trials such as this one, and this is only a trial, so we will wait and see what the outcomes are.

But it is also really important that both federal and state governments look at not just allied health professionals, but also how to get increased numbers of doctors, nurses, midwives into those communities. Social workers is another one.

In Queensland in particular, we're going through a maternity crisis. The bypass in Gladstone maternity has just been lifted, which is really brilliant news, but there are still some communities where they're still under maternity bypass. The key thing is to act urgently to ensure that all maternity units throughout Queensland have the support that they need because we really don't want any other units closed. When they close, it's very hard to get them reopened, and it is really important that women have that choice to birth safely closer to home.

LUCY POLKINGHORNE:   Yeah, absolutely. And this program is expected to trial new ways of delivering multidisciplinary primary care in rural and remote communities, as you mentioned, to then evaluate whether they lead to better health outcomes. How do you expect the trial will work? Is there enough incentive as well for health professionals to sign up to the trial too?

DR MARIA BOULTON:   We're yet to see the details of the incentives, but we do know that incentives work. But it is really essential that any healthcare worker that's going rural and remote has the support that they need so they can continue returning to those communities, and develop roots and stay in those communities.

It's really important to promote multidisciplinary team care that is GP-led. That that was an outcome of the federal Strengthening Medicare task force. But in order to do that, it is also really important to look at GP numbers. Even though GPs are the least maldistributed workforce in Queensland, we know that there's a lot less medical students planning on becoming GPs. When I was a medical student, 50 per cent of medical students wanted to be GPs, and now that's down to 15 per cent. That's going to bite us in five to 10 years, which is why it's really important to also look at those incentives to ensure that a lot of medical students are making that choice of GP as a profession, because GPs are really integral to that multidisciplinary team.

Those teams do need a doctor. Those teams do need nurses, pharmacists, and other allied health professionals, and it's really important to look at the entire of the workforce.

LUCY POLKINGHORNE:   So what do you hope the long-term plan will be following this trial?

DR MARIA BOULTON:   We hope that more trials such as this are made. For example, in Victoria, there's been an announcement of incentives to get medical students to become GPs, which has been quite successful. Queensland has rolled out incentives for nurses and midwives to practice in rural and remote regions, and also other healthcare workers.

In Queensland, however, some of those incentives only translate to Queensland Health employees, and we know that communities also benefit from private healthcare workers, such as GPs, such as allied health workforce. It is important that gets rolled out. There's been a lot of chat about this. We've got really great rural representation, and it's essential that both government, state and federal listen to those people on the ground.

Not every solution will work for every community. So those solutions need to be community-specific, community-led, and ensure that they have all those healthcare workforces represented.

LUCY POLKINGHORNE:   Absolutely, and a positive first step as well. Dr Boulton, appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.