Building a 21st Century - Primary Health Care System - Australia’s First National Primary Health Care Strategy
The Case for Change
Australia’s health care system faces significant challenges due to the growing burden of chronic disease, an ageing population, workforce pressures, and unacceptable inequities in health outcomes and access to services. Chronic diseases place an enormous demand on the health system, with more than 50 per cent of consultations with GPs attributed to people with a chronic condition such as heart disease, cancer or diabetes.
Compounding these challenges, primary health care in Australia has tended to operate as a disparate set of services, rather than an integrated service system. It has been difficult for primary health care to respond effectively to changing pressures (such as demographic change, changes in the burden of disease, emerging technologies and changing clinical practice), and to coordinate within and across the various elements of the broader health system to meet the needs of an individual patient.
For many individuals, the primary health care services they access and the quality of care that results, has depended on where they live, their specific condition, and the service providers involved, as much as their clinical needs and circumstances. Many patients, particularly those with complex needs, have either been left to navigate a complex system on their own or, even when supported by their GP, have been affected by gaps in information flows, and a limited ability to influence care decisions in other services.
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