Paul Allonby’s Post

The Labour Party's new policies promise to revolutionise the NHS, focusing on continuity of care and integrated services. Is this a pivotal moment for general practice and primary care providers? Discover how these changes might affect your practice and how to prepare: https://lnkd.in/d7ziYYKY #NHS #GeneralPractice #PrimaryCare #HealthcareReform #LabourGovernment #EligoMedical

Congress is trying to reauthorize the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act which was first established in 2022 and provided 100 million dollars to support the mental health of healthcare workers. Dr. Breen was an emergency room physician who died as a result of suicide during the pandemic. Burnout for medical personnel over the last few years has been unprecedented. Many doctors are afraid to reach out for help for fear that their employers or licensing boards will find out. Doctors and nurses who did take advantage of counseling said it made all the difference. The LB Foundation has been pushing state licensing boards, hospitals, and health systems to stop invasive questions about mental health making it easier for medical staff to receive the help they need. Our healthcare workers need help like the LB Foundation for their sake, and ours. #MentalHealth #HealthCareWorkers #Burnout

Allied Health Professionals (AHP) day has come and gone. While it was heartwarming to see the recognition and gratitude about the great work this cohort undertakes I am left feeling slightly disheartened. The umbrella term AHP features many clever diverse people and their respective qualifications. However, the employment awards for AHP’s across Australia and NZ do not reflect a collaborative, strong presence. 1. Often AHP’s are grouped with very different professions and job roles. The NSW HSU award for example covers gardeners to radiographers, physiotherapists to catering staff. Many AHP’s have four year degrees which does not align with other job positions in their award. I am not denigrating the importance of each cohort but the variation is paralysing the remuneration of some professions. 2. The NDIS for all its bouquets and brickbats has created a dichotomy for reimbursement, a two stream economy. Unless you choose to work in NDIS, you may be getting a lot less remuneration. The SCHADs award has the starting hourly rate for a care assistant of close to $40 per hour for 4 hours training. This is not even equitable with a first year physio graduate’s income, after a 4 year degree. 3. Allied Health Professionals are the 2nd biggest health provider cohort after our nursing colleagues. Yet AHP’s are still largely being ignored as an integral solution for primary health care. Medicare legislation all but ignores their presence by not offering direct pathways for funding to utilise AHP’s and reduce the pressure on our dwindling and distressed GP cohort. So I am hoping by the time next year’s Allied Health Professionals day comes along there is more financial and policy recognition of these clever, qualified and curious professionals. Does anyone else have this as an itch they’ve been wanting to scratch for a while? Keen to hear your comments because we can definitely agree to disagree. Plus I would value your feedback given my conscious bias for this amazing group of humans - thanks 🙏

We need your support to ensure Ahpra acts fairly and equitably. Ahpra and the 15 National Boards don't currently lower fees or provide any proper mechanism or registration fee category to assist healthcare workers who take parental leave. This affects over 877,000 Australian healthcare workers, who are a diverse and predominantly female workforce. With healthcare worker shortages across the country it’s concerning that Ahpra consider non-practising registration a viable solution for parental leave. We need the Australian healthcare regulator to provide systems that support a flexible and responsive workforce of over 877,000 diverse and predominantly female healthcare workers. Their current approach is rigid, inequitable and inflexible, and it must change. Support our call by signing and sharing the petition asking for fair and equitable registration fees for healthcare workers - together we will improve equity in healthcare: https://lnkd.in/ggCA2h_D

Excellent points in this article. A few bad actors are not representative of this industry. The Administration needs to start promoting the sector rather than disparaging it. Let's work together to find solutions to address the healthcare worker crisis. #longtermcare

Stark reality in NZ today. Staff wellbeing is walking a tight rope. Poor policy decisions will continue to impact healthcare. Primary care is inheriting more and more workload day by day in an attempt to alleviate burden elsewhere. Primary care however is on the brink of collapse as a result of years of underfunding, a workforce crisis that was predicted at least 10 years ago and increased expectation on primary care with an infrastructure that cannot cope. Take care out there people. Burnout is rife. If we’re not ok, neither will our service be and therefore the care our patients receive is directly affected. Our families suffer and those around us. What a difficult position to be in as health care professionals. #selfcare #reachoutifyouneedto #somethingneedstochange

Good read on how we care for the healthcare workers who take care of us.

The NHS crisis illustrates how short-term cost-cutting often leads to increased long-term expenses. Inadequate funding and redirection of capital funds have left the system with outdated infrastructure, reducing efficiency and escalating costs over time. To address this, innovative financing models that prioritize value-based care and prevention should be considered. This could include risk-sharing arrangements with pharmaceutical companies, and bundled payment systems to incentivize efficient, high-quality care. Additionally, exploring public-private partnerships for infrastructure development and implementing outcomes-based commissioning could help modernize the NHS while managing costs.

This is a must-read for anyone who supports #healthcareprofessionals! Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers are the backbone of our health care system. Unfortunately, they have higher levels of mental and physical health issues, such as depression, obesity, and back pain. Their health and vitality directly impacts their ability to care for patients, and caring for them requires unique strategies and services. Allison Hofmann, who leads the Health System division at Cigna Healthcare, shares her insights from serving this population for nearly 30 years. She discusses the post-pandemic impact, the unique relationship these employees have with their benefits, and how hospitals can customize their offerings leveraging their expertise to support their employees. #Hospitals #Benefits #Populationhealth https://lnkd.in/ecxZpK_h