Date: 12 September 2024
The Australian Government announced the Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce (Scope of Practice Review) in the 2023-24 Federal Budget as part of its response to the Strengthening Medicare Reform Taskforce. One of the priority recommendations was for federal, state and territory governments to work together to explore the barriers and opportunities for all health practitioners to work to their full scope of practice.
Phase 1 (11 Sep- 16 Oct 2023): The Review asked for experiences, views and perspectives of health practitioners working to full scope of practice in primary care. Following wide consultation to gather the insights and experiences of our membership, the overwhelming majority of RACGP members felt that they could increase their scope of practice for the benefit of their patients. The RACGP emphasised that the Review must be about more than role or task substitution and pushed hard for consideration of GP views from the start of the Review.
Phase 2 (25 Feb – 8 Mar 2024): Focussed on Issues Paper 1 which collated key findings, themes and observations from the literature review, submissions, conversations, surveys and forums. As per feedback from our members, the RACGP expressed concerns about the disproportionate emphasis on first contact access and the oversimplification of general practice and the role of the generalist. The RACGP also firmly highlighted the serious likelihood of wasted financial resources and recommendations that will have very costly outcomes for patients, the health system and the health budget and the perceived devaluing of the specialised training required for general practice.
Phase 3 (16 Apr – 26 May 2024): Focussed on Issues Paper 2, which proposed 8 policy reform options across 3 key themes (workforce design, development and planning; legislation and regulation; funding and payment policy). The RACGP’s submission reiterated GP concerns that the Review was undervaluing the benefits of continuous and coordinated care beyond the initial clinical presentation and was deviating from the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce Report recommendations. We made it clear that scope of practice discussions must remain connected to general practice multidisciplinary team-based settings that promote comprehensive, coordinated, continuous and collaborative care.
Phase 4 (3 Sep – 17 Sep 2024): This targeted and confidential consultation provided an opportunity for invited stakeholders to highlight factual inaccuracies within the Draft Final Report. This consultation was not made public by government. The Final Report is expected to be delivered to Minister Butler by the end of October 2024.
Read the submissions
RACGP Sub – Scope of Practice Review (1st Consultation) OCT 2023 (PDF)
RACGP Sub - Scope of Practice Review (2nd Consultation) MAR 2024 (PDF)
RACGP Sub - Scope of Practice Review (3rd Consultation) MAY 2024 (PDF)