Professional nursing concepts in Australia

Running head: HEALTHCARE
Professional nursing concepts in Australia
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

HEALTHCARE1
Introduction- Health and social care in Australia is funded and operated by the state
and government territory government, in addition to not-for-profit and private sector
organisations. This essay will elaborate on the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS), and its
link to other components of the healthcare system.
Discussion- The PBS refers to a healthcare component of the Australian Government,
the primary aim of which is to create provisions for funded prescription medications to
inhabitants of Australia, in addition to particular foreign invitees who are concealed by the
presence of a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (Mellish et al., 2015). It is a core duty of the
PBS to guarantee that the Australian inhabitants have adequate access to inexpensive and
consistent access to a plethora of essential medicines. In recent years, the PBS has been
subjected to an augmented scrutiny, with an increase in healthcare costs. Results from reports
suggest that the PBS undertakes accountability for the price of medications to patients in the
public setting, rather than during their stay in hospitals, which has been identified as the core
duty of each territory and state (Paige et al., 2015). Along with the Medicare, the PBS
therefore acts as a central component of health and social care in Australia. Furthermore, the
PBS is under the control of the National Health (Pharmaceutical Benefits) Regulations 1960
and the National Health Act 1953. The associated pharmaceutical benefits might be supplied
by medical practitioners and pharmacists who are accepted under the Act, and the
applications for enlisting a medication under PBS are managed by the Department of Health
(Department of Health, 2019).
Furthermore, PBS enlisting is not possible before the drug is listed on the Australian
Register of Therapeutic Goods for the pertinent indication. It can be considered as an
essential component of the Primary Health Networks (PHN) since the latter focuses on
improving patient care, while making it more effective and efficient (Department of Health,
2019). The Therapeutic Group Premiums (TGPs) had also been introduced in order to restrict