NURSES and medical assistants could take low-risk jobs off doctors and save the public hospital system more than $400 million a year, a think tank says.
The Grattan Institute has released a report arguing hospitals can get more bang for the public buck by allowing lower-qualified medical professionals to provide basic care.
Nursing assistants could free up nurses’ time, while specialist nurses could free up doctors’ time by taking low-risk procedures from their more qualified colleagues.
More assistants could be employed to support physiotherapists and occupational therapists.
The institute estimates these job re-allocation measures could save pubic hospitals almost $430 million annually, which could fund treatment for 80,000 more patients.
The current system is outdated and results in a mismatch of skills and jobs, putting added pressure on an already-strained public hospital system, it says.
“It doesn’t take 15 years of training to provide light sedation for a stable patient having a simple procedure, or a three-year degree to help someone bathe or eat – but that’s where we are now,” Grattan health program director Stephen Duckett said in a statement.
The Consumers Health Forum of Australia welcomed the suggestions as a relatively inexpensive alternative to the ballooning cost of health care.
However, nurses said there were not enough job opportunities for them and the report relied on a superficial reduction of tasks that would have very little impact.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation said the report drew a “naive conclusion” that raising the number of nursing assistants wouldn’t affect the jobs of registered and enrolled nurses.
The fact no nurses were consulted in the report called into question some of its recommendations, the group said.
Source: Courier Mail