Nine nursing and midwifery organisations form an Alliance

Nine nursing and midwifery organisations have joined forces to create an Alliance to campaign for primary healthcare reform.

The organisations are together calling on the government to enable nurses, nurse practitioners, midwives, and allied health professionals to work to their full scope of practice.

The Alliance — including the Australian College of Nursing (ACN), the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA), the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners (ACNP), the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM), the Australian College of Midwives (ACM), the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses (ACMHN), the Council of Remote Area Nurses of Australia (CRANAplus), and the Council of the Deans of Nursing and Midwifery (CDNM) — will campaign to promote the benefits of nursing and midwifery for all communities.

Securing support for the work of nurses, nurse practitioners and midwives — particularly ensuring they can work to their full scope of practice — is a critically important election issue for the Alliance.

The campaign will work with the federal government, the opposition, and all other parties and independents, to ensure significant healthcare reform in line with the raft of independent reviews under the Strengthening Medicare banner — including the Review of General Practice Incentives, the Review of After Hours Primary Care Programs and Policy, the Working Better for Medicare Review, and the Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce — Scope of Practice Review.

The organisations believe that the spirit of the consultation process throughout these reviews indicates that the government recognises the growing health needs of patients and communities now and into the future — and the government has an appetite for reform.

Nurses, nurse practitioners and midwives make up 54% of Australia’s health workforce, the Alliance said.

“They are the most geographically dispersed health workforce in the country.

“But one-third of nurses, nurse practitioners, and midwives in primary health care rarely work to their full scope.” This must change, according to the Alliance.

Patients and communities — especially in rural, and regional and remote areas, including First Nations communities — will benefit when nurses, nurse practitioners and midwives can use their full skill set under their scope of practice, the Alliance said in a statement.

“Nurses and midwives have spearheaded the promotion of culturally safe care, including for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

“There is a critical connection between education, skills development, workforce and clinical practice. Nurses and midwives are well educated and highly trained to safely deliver a wide array of health care.

“For over 30 years, they have been educated in universities, backed by evidence-based research that reflects changing models of care and use of new technology,” the statement said.

The Alliance’s campaign includes: meetings with MPs and senators; public and media education about the quality, breadth and diversity of nursing and midwifery; mainstream and social media materials and activity; actively using evidence and data and facts to refute misinformation and ill-informed commentary on nursing, midwifery and allied health quality, capability and cost; and combined evidence-based policy and advocacy programs.

Image credit: iStock.com/katleho Seisa