The Department of Health and Aged Care is seeking information from aged care providers on the design of residential aged care accommodation. The Stocktake on the Design of Residential Aged Care Accommodation (‘stocktake’) will help the department to understand what residential...
Closes 3 October 2023
One of the top 3 regulatory science priorities identified at our office planning day was to “retain and resource access to the full range of scientific literature”. With this priority in mind, the following short survey is designed to gain a better understanding of how the office accesses, uses and...
Closes 6 October 2023
We are seeking feedback from stakeholders on the PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) report and recommendations on the proposed reforms to Part B of the Prescribed List of Benefits for Medical Devices and Human Tissue Products* (the PL), and the proposed restructure of Part B. The report...
Closes 6 October 2023
Microbial genomics is the application of genome sequencing technologies to characterise and analyse pathogens for the purposes of informing clinical and public health investigation and response to communicable disease outbreaks. The implementation of this technology is rapidly transforming the...
Closes 10 October 2023
In February 2023, the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce Report outlined priority recommendations to improve primary care. One of these was that the Australian Government work together with states and territories to explore the barriers and incentives for all health practitioners to work to...
Closes 16 October 2023
Consultation period extended until 29 September 2023. In August 2019 the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation (now the Food Ministers’ Meeting) asked the Food Regulation Standing Committee to consider options to improve the composition of the food supply in...
Closed 29 September 2023
The Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) is a list of health professional services (items) that the Australian Government subsidises. MBS items provide patient benefits for a wide range of health services including consultations, diagnostic tests, therapy, and operations. When changes are...
Closed 29 September 2023
Australia is participating in two important processes to strengthen the international community’s capacity to prevent, prepare for, and respond to, pandemics and other international health emergencies: the negotiation of a new international legal instrument on pandemic prevention,...
Closed 24 September 2023
Under the Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) grant agreement, Sector Support and Development (SSD) providers are required to submit a Performance Report to the Department of Health and Aged Care (Department) bi-annually. This performance report will be used to gather...
Closed 14 September 2023
Background information from the Shigella SoNG Working Group is required to progress document development that is consistent with the needs of as many jurisdictions as possible.
Closed 11 September 2023
Here are some of the issues we have consulted on and their outcomes. See all outcomes
The Department of Health and Aged Care (Department) asked for your views and input on the draft aim, outcomes and actions in the consultation draft Nurse Practitioner Workforce Plan (the Plan). The draft Plan was released for stakeholder feedback from 19 December 2022 to 10 February 2023.
Targeted meetings were also held during this time to seek feedback from stakeholder organisations. Yarning circles and a consumer focus group were also held to test the actions within the draft Plan to ensure they are realistic, implementable and well received by both First Nations peoples and consumers.
Feedback received during the consultation process is being used to refine and inform the final Plan.
In total, 215 submissions were received, comprising of 172 online survey responses, 25 written submissions via email, 15 targeted stakeholder meetings, 1 consumer focus group and 2 yarning circles.
The mix of responses from consumers, nurse practitioners, health professionals and organisations provided a comprehensive understanding of how the aim, outcomes and actions of the Plan were received. Feedback on improving the draft Plan was constructive with suggestions to refine language and review the action’s timeline. Whilst many responses were focused on the barriers to nurse practitioners providing care, the Department received useful suggestions for refining the draft Plan.
The Department undertook analysis of the online submissions (including survey and written responses) using the Citizen Space application in February 2023. The data from online and written submissions was further analysed simultaneously with stakeholder feedback from meetings, yarning circles and focus groups. This involved coding the qualitative responses for feedback on key themes and creation of analysis notes to further refine the consultation draft.
Stakeholder feedback captured is being used to refine the Plan and ensure the actions address key nurse practitioner workforce challenges. Suggestions proposed during this round of consultation will be considered by the Nurse Practitioner Steering Committee and used to develop a final version of the Plan for approval by Government.
The department asked for feedback about the core capabilities to support the Intellectual Disability Health Capability Framework (framework) in an open consultation from 22 November 2022 – 27 January 2023. The proposed framework for consultation included the following capabilities:
We asked whether people thought the framework and the core capabilities address the key areas for health students’ knowledge and practice. We also asked people to comment on the content and detail covered by each of the six capabilities.
Ninety-three submissions to the open consultation were received from a range of stakeholders including individuals, health services, peak bodies, education providers, and groups representing and serving those with intellectual disabilities. A breakdown of responses is as follows:
The results showed that overall, 77% of respondents agreed that the capability areas capture the key capabilities. The level of agreement by specific capability area ranged from 63% (Intellectual Disability Awareness) to 74% (Responsible, Safe and Ethical Practice). Submissions also proposed changes to terminology, and identified gaps in capabilities, areas where more emphasis was required, and clarification was needed. Feedback also identified potential learning outcomes and implementation ideas for the framework.
Feedback has been recorded and will be used to futher develop the framework. All submissions have been reviewed and amendments have been made to capabilities as appropriate. The following significant changes were made:
The addition of two new capabilities
Key wording changes
Following the open consultation process, a modified Delphi method will be conducted with key stakeholders to reach consensus on the core capabilities. A futher public consultation will be undertaken in September 2023 to seek feedback on the draft framework document.
We appreciate all the interest and expertise shared throughout the consultation phase and thank all stakeholders who prepared a submission.
The department asked for your views and input on the Review of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (the Review). The Review was released for written stakeholder feedback from 6 April 2022 to 17 June 2022.
18 submissions were received from a range of stakeholders including peak health bodies, advocacy organisations, First Nations health care services and state government organisations. The submissions were broadly supportive of the Review findings.
Where appropriate, feedback provided on the Review has been considered to inform Program activities and enhancements.
A summary of the Review’s Findings and Program Reform Actions is provided in the below table.
Review Finding |
Program Reform Actions |
|
1 |
Consider feasibility of lowering screening entry age to 40 or 45 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, coupled with scale up of the Alternative Pathway pilot for this group. |
|
2 |
Review timing intervals for reminders with clinical input. |
|
3 |
Consideration should be given to alternate forms of communication which do not require simultaneous availability of the participant follow-up function (PFUF) officer and recipient (e.g., email/SMS). |
|
4 |
Support the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) with its implementation of the Colonoscopy Clinical Care Standard (CCCS) and monitor colonoscopy performance against colonoscopy quality standards. |
|
5 |
Work with states and territories to pilot projects that reshape the PFUF role in line with innovative colonoscopy access models. |
|
6 |
Engage with Primary Health Networks (PHNs) and professional bodies (e.g., The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians) to promote a comprehensive set of educational materials, which describe the NHMRC-approved clinical practice guidelines, the Program’s full alignment with biennial screening recommendations, and recent changes to the Medicare Benefits Schedule item codes for colonoscopy. |
|
7 |
Re-configure Program Delivery Advisory Group (PDAG) to include jurisdictional representatives that are able to provide operational advice on contextual issues related to colonoscopy access. |
|
8 |
Promote the Program’s research priorities to external researchers. |
|
9 |
Reset the working relationship with all stakeholders to ensure needs are being met in regard to the purpose of each group and expectations on information sharing. |
|
10 |
Reconvene a working group with the goal of prioritising initiatives to address data gaps and agree on any required changes to the endorsed set of KPIs. This group should be set-up over the medium to long term to manage the stakeholder engagement, effort and time required to implement and oversee initiatives to address data gaps. |
|
11 |
Improve visibility of the target population’s participation in other forms of bowel cancer screening, including via over-the-counter iFOBT kits or kits provided by clinicians. Identifying invitees in the target population deemed to be at higher risk for bowel cancer (who may be undergoing surveillance colonoscopies) would also allow a more accurate measure of the true Program participation rate. |
|
12 |
Implement sustained and coordinated media and communications campaigns. Campaigns should be national in nature (across jurisdictional and cancer charities, where possible) to promote a coordinated message that minimises fragmentation and duplication of effort. |
|
13 |
Use the primary care sector as a resource to promote participation through education and opportunistic provision of kits. GPs, practice nurses and pharmacists are well placed to promote and provide counselling regarding Program participation. |
|
14 |
Consider piloting sample drop-off points. Trials of this nature should initially be targeted at people in regional areas due to their unique challenges in complying with the strict return postage requirements. |
|
15 |
Scale up the Alternative Pathway pilot, as appropriate in other population groups. This includes other locations targeted at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, as well as exploration of how the pilot could be tailored to address access barriers faced by invitees from CALD backgrounds. |
|
16 |
Explore utilisation of the NCSR to improve participation. This could include electronic reminders, streamlined processes for completion of personal details, access to in-language communications, as well as personalised invitations based on Program screening history and/or demographic factors. However, given phone/email contact information is unavailable for first-time screeners, mechanisms to collect this information from other government databases, such as MyGov, may be required. |
|
17 |
Modify kit contents and accessories to mitigate common reasons for non-completion. This may include an action plan for completion contained in the kit instructions (to overcome the procrastination barrier), and/or provision of accessories such as an opaque bag for fridge storage (to overcome perceived hygiene concerns). |
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