Connecting Acute and Primary Care
Increases in Emergency Department (ED) wait times, ambulance ramping and delays in receiving treatment have been caused by a variety of variables, including workforce shortages, pauses in non-urgent care and an increase in the number of patients.
The situation is often worse in regional and remote areas.
Federal, state and territory governments need to work in unison to ensure hospital funding meets the needs of their communities. They need to prioritise funding for post-acute and transition care in the home or community setting, and where physiotherapy has a leading role in recovery.
Inefficiencies in our health care system mean patients are not being connected with the most cost-effective and clinically appropriate pathways. Targeting spending on physiotherapy will bring more value for money by reducing the need for costly secondary care.
1. Expand the Urgent Care Clinic team to encompass physiotherapy
The APA is calling for more integration of physiotherapists into primary and community care.
Patients must have access to physiotherapists as part of a multidisciplinary team, and Urgent Care Clinics are an ideal way to provide this as right now patients are not funded to access physiotherapy services beyond current and very limited MBS chronic disease items.
Emergency Departments are under increasing pressure. Many people attend EDs with musculoskeletal (MSK) issues that can be diagnosed and even treated immediately by a qualified physiotherapist. Physiotherapy is key to ensuring continuity of care across the primary and acute care interface by alleviating GP workloads and diverting non-life threatening emergencies from EDs. This will alleviate the high volume of Category 4 and 5 (less and non-urgent) ED presentations that block more critical care need. Physiotherapists working in Urgent Care Clinics will provide better and faster access to diagnosis, treatment, and care of musculoskeletal pain and conditions.
Actions we are calling for:
The APA calls for the government to continue to invest in publicly funded physiotherapy services in Urgent Care Clinics.
How this helps
Overseas evidence, particularly from the United Kingdom, shows that physiotherapists working with GPs in primary care deliver key benefits for both the patients and the health system, through cost savings and better utilisation of resources. Appropriately qualified Ahpra-regulated autonomous physiotherapy practitioners will deliver on the promise of UCCs.
Success at the state-level, where physiotherapy is encompassed in state-funded health services, is demonstrating the value to patients and the health system. In addition, there are already UCCs operating with physiotherapy, and the data will likely show the benefit to patients, hospitals and the health system.
Relevant information
2. Multidisciplinary rapid response teams
The UK is implementing multidisciplinary rapid response teams to support their ageing population with emergency help. This should be piloted here. Strengthening the breadth and availability of community services for older Australians removes the need for in-hospital care.
Actions we are calling for:
The APA calls for the development of new pathways to activate multidisciplinary rapid response teams to support older Australian in the community with emergency help.
How this helps
Rapid response teams allow people to be treated at home, while avoiding hospital admissions and allowing longer independent living arrangements. Such programs, including ones implemented in the UK, have decreased the number of hospital admissions, and residential and aged care placements.
Relevant information
