Joint Advocacy for the Rural, Regional and Remote Nursing Workforce
CNSA was recently involved in developing a submission to a consultation launched by the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee on the topic of Rural, Regional and Remote Medicare Access and Funding. CNSA recognises the importance of reviewing current Medicare access and funding arrangements as they relate to people living in rural, regional and remote areas. We specifically addressed the impact of current funding arrangements and the introduction of the requirement for patients to have seen their local nurse practitioner (NP) face-to-face in the preceding 12 months to access MBS rebates for NP-directed telehealth services. This policy has the unintended consequence of seriously disrupting access to essential, safe, and cost-effective cancer care services to disadvantaged and marginalised Australians who live in rural, regional and remote communities. You can read more about our submission here.
In developing our submission, we worked closely with the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners (ACNP) and Australia and New Zealand Urological Nurses Society Ltd (ANZUNS) to ensure alignment in our messaging. As a result, we decided to endorse a joint letter of support from several nursing organisations to the Senate to show solidarity in advocating for the needs of nurses working across rural, regional and remote Australia. We collectively voiced our support for Medicare reform that improves equitable access to subsidised care, reduces duplication, removes unnecessary legislative restrictions and strengthens the sustainability of rural and remote services. You can read the letter here.
We look forward to seeing the outcomes of this Senate inquiry once it has reported back to the Australian Government and will provide an update once this published.
We thank our members for their valuable contributions to this important consultation.
