Patients in regional and remote areas will soon receive easier access to care under a plan to unleash the full potential of the nation's nurses.
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Assistant Health Minister Ged Kearney introduced proposed laws to parliament on Wednesday, which would allow nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives to provide health care to people without the need for a doctor to give a tick of approval.
But the Australian Medical Association is opposed to the change and has encouraged Health Minister Mark Butler to reconsider the approach.
Nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives have completed further study and have extra qualifications.
Under the changes, they would continue to provide treatment within their scope of practice without the need for supervision from a doctor through a collaborative arrangement.
As the nation manages a chronic shortage of GPs, particularly in regional and remote areas, the bill aims to make it easier for Australians to access care by using all the skills available in the healthcare workforce.
Australia's health system was "groaning at the seams", Ms Kearney told parliament.
"We need to have every single nurse practitioner and endorsed midwife running at their full capacity," she said.
The change would come into effect from November if passed.
The Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association president Karen Booth said the government should continue to press on with "bold" reform to unleash the full potential of the nursing workforce.
"The healthcare system is struggling to meet demand and it is appropriate for governments to explore and implement new models of care," she said.
AMA president Steve Robson said the medical body was "greatly disappointed" by the plan to remove the requirement for collaborative arrangements.
"The planned removal of collaborative arrangement provisions will promote a siloed approach to care," Professor Robson said.
"(It) ignores the explicit recommendation of the Medicare Benefits Schedule Review Taskforce , which ... highlighted that removal of the requirement for collaboration would impact patient safety."
Australian College of Midwives chief executive Helen White described the bill as "a win for women's choice of maternity care".
Australian Associated Press
