Francesca Rudkin: Government's new health moves are long overdue

I like how the government’s recent moves are trying to create a more integrated and responsive health system. Last week they moved on pharmacists and during the weekend it was with paramedics.  It’s about making the most of the workforce we already have by extending what they do, with the aim being to reduce treatment delays, improve patient experiences and take the pressure of our stretched primary health care providers.   Last Tuesday changes to the services pharmacists can provide kicked in. instead of waiting for a GP appointment, paying for a GP appointment, or paying over the counter prices for treatments, you can head to your local chemist where your pharmacists is now be funded to provide a consultation and supply a funded treatment at a low cost.   The benefits are obvious. Patients can get more affordable care quickly and closer to home, while taking pressure off GPs and emergency departments.   Over the weekend, the Health Minister Simeon Brown announced that paramedics will soon be able to prescribe medicines that fall within their scope of practice. At the moment paramedics can administer medicines but can’t prescribe them.   Once again, the idea is to reduce pressure on emergency departments by being able to help more patients receive treatment in their homes and communities.   The Health Minister said "Giving paramedics the ability to prescribe medicines will enable them to provide more complete care when it is clinically appropriate, rather than transferring patients elsewhere, such as an emergency department, solely to obtain a prescription.”   This will be beneficial where it makes sense for people to be assessed, treated and prescribed at home; such as the elderly, those in palliative care, and those living in rural and remote areas.   Hato Hone St John says it supports paramedic prescribing as a positive step in the evolution of the paramedic profession and ambulance care.   Jon Moores, Hato Hone St John Deputy Chief Executive said what we’re all thinking. "It is important that robust clinical governance, training, prescribing frameworks and patient safeguards are in place to ensure prescribing is used appropriately and safely." He said, “it is important that the necessary funding and support mechanisms are in place to ensure ambulance services can continue to meet their existing commitments while taking on these expanded responsibilities."  The Health minister confirmed with me yesterday on the Sunday Session that the government would continue to invest in paramedics, and funding this will be subject to negations between Health New Zealand and our ambulance providers. According to Brown it may take a year or two to get this approved and up and running.   Look – this isn’t transformation change for the health sector. You could perhaps call it tinkering around the edges. But small changes can still be worthwhile change. Talk to clinicians, and they will often tell you fixing problems is not always about needing more money but about creating better systems and using money more wisely.   So, these are small changes, but they will make life easier for patients Something tells me that once they’re safely implemented, we’ll wonder why we didn’t do this earlier.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.