The Canberra Times
6/09/2009 10:35:00 AM

ONCE again it seems the jostling for position in the medical practitioner field is getting nasty.
Doctors, some 420 of them, have signed a letter opposing legislation which would enable qualified nurse practitioners to perform general practice services independently.

It is an ongoing debate, one which has been heard across a nation with increasing doctor shortages, the acceleration of emergency department waiting times and the general malaise of a health system groaning under the weight of overwork.

The Lancet, Volume 373, Issue 9677, Page 1736, 23 May 2009

Nicola Roxon—Australia’s Minister for Health and Ageing—has taken some pioneering steps in announcing the country’s health budget. Midwives in Australia will, from 2010, be able to prescribe subsidised drugs and bill their services to Medicare, the nation’s health safety net. Nurse practitioners will also be granted further prescribing rights and Medicare access. These changes represent a big step towards reducing the now blurred boundaries between doctors and nurses. Diversifying the workforce and getting better value for money can only, argues Roxon, improve patient care. Other winners in the budget include rural health, with funding to attract doctors extended to 500 additional remote communities. Maximum retention bonuses for doctors in the most remote locations will be nearly doubled. And Indigenous health services will receive a AUD$200 million (US$151 million) boost, to help close the health inequity gap.

Nurse Practitioners applaud access to Pharmaceutical and Medical Benefits Scheme rebates for their patients

The Australian College of Nurse Practitioners (ACNP) congratulates the Rudd Government on their visionary decision to approve nurse practitioners to prescribe within the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and for patients to receive rebates from the Medical Benefits Scheme (MBS) for diagnostic tests and referrals.

In a breakthrough for the health of all Australians, last night the Federal Government allocated significant funds to reimburse patient’s costs when they receive care from nurse practitioners.

NURSES will be able to prescribe cheap medicines to their patients in Budget plans to widen their role in frontline health services.

Article from: 
Steve Lewis and Sue Dunlevy
April 29, 2009 12:00am

Experienced nurses - known as "nurse practitioners" - will be able to prescribe Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme medicines.

This will save their patients hundreds of dollars on necessary prescription drugs. The cost of common antibiotics, for example, would fall from $17 to $5 for pensioners if nurse prescriptions were subsidised.

The bold reform will expand health services in the bush, nursing homes and other areas struggling to cope with a shortage of 1300 GPs.

It will allow nursing practitioners to fix bottlenecks in the health system by treating nursing home patients with minor ailments, prescribing vaccinations and antibiotics for tonsilitis and urinary tract infections, and even contraceptives.