23 April 2010 College response to CoAG agreement on health reform
The Council of Australian Governments Meeting (CoAG), with the exception of Western Australia, agreed to establish a National Health and Hospital Network at this week’s CoAG meeting. The National Health and Hospital Reform Commission has recommended the development of a person centred, strong, equitable, integrated primary health care system and the college is pleased that CoAG has taken this challenge up. The CoAG communiqué is available at www.coag.gov.au.
The college welcomes CoAG’s endorsement of the health and hospital reform plans, confirming the policy from the National Health and Hospital Network’s announcements by the Prime Minister earlier this month in the National Health and Hospitals Network report volume 2.
It is good news that our federal and state governments have finally reached agreement on the establishment of the National Health and Hospital Network – we agree that this is a historic agreement and a positive outcome after 2 years of community and key stakeholder consultation. It is good to finally see a real focus on general practice and primary health care in these announcements.
Of course, we still want to see the details of how this plan will be implemented at a local level, but overall, it is good to see that the Prime Minister and our state ministers are committed to making a difference to the health of our nation, and committed to investing into general practice and primary care. This agreement means health reform on a national level and we look forward to working with all levels of government to implement this plan. To read the full college response, visit www.racgp.org.au/media2010.
M5 Project - RACGP men's health initiative helping men to help themselves
M5 encourages men and those who care about them to recognise the importance of men forming an ongoing relationship with a GP.
