Building a 21st Century - Primary Health Care System - Australia’s First National Primary Health Care Strategy
Introduction
This National Primary Health Care Strategy represents the first comprehensive national policy statement for primary health care in Australia and provides the platform on which to build a strong and efficient primary health care system into the future.
It comes at a time when the Australian Government is building a National Health and Hospitals Network (NHHN), which includes taking full funding and policy responsibility for primary health care services in Australia.It provides a roadmap to guide current and future policy, planning and practice in the Australian primary health care sector.
The development of the Strategy has been informed by the extensive health reform consultations undertaken by the Australian Government. It has taken into account the advice and expertise provided by the External Reference Group chaired by Dr Tony Hobbs,and has drawn upon the detailed informationprovided in 265 written submissions that were received in response to the Discussion Paper:Towards a National Primary Health Care Strategy.
