Evaluation of Primary Health Care Strategies in Australia: NUR3101

This report provides an evaluation of Australia's primary health care strategies, focusing on a public health issue as outlined in the assignment brief. The report analyzes the National Primary Health Care Strategic Framework, emphasizing the key strategy of improving access and reducing inequity in healthcare services. It delves into the determinants of health, particularly equity and social justice, exploring how factors like education, wealth, and access influence healthcare accessibility. Furthermore, the report examines epidemiological factors associated with primary health care, considering factors such as age and risk factors. The evaluation is conducted with reflection on the WHO's five key principles of Primary Health Care. The significance to nursing practice is also discussed, highlighting the roles and responsibilities of nurses in implementing and supporting these strategies to improve public health outcomes. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of primary health care in improving equity and reducing inequality in healthcare, especially for those in remote and rural areas.

Running head: PRIMARY HEALTH CARE 1
Primary Health Care
Author
Institution

PRIMARY HEALTH CARE 2
Primary Health Care
Introduction
The Australian government works to ensure there are sustainability and improvement of
the primary health care with the objective of safeguarding safe and effective services for the
consumers designed at delivering care in the most efficient and suitable situation and improving
the outcomes of health. The National Primary Health Care Strategic Framework which is
endorsed by the standing council on Health presented an agreed approach for a more robust and
stronger system of healthcare in Australia (Standing Council on Health 2013). It outlined four
major strategies of improving healthcare that majorly focuses on the public areas. One of the key
strategies of improving the primary health care to the public areas is improving access and
reducing equity in services of healthcare. Thus, the primary system of healthcare is supposed to
deliver high quality and services that are financially sustainable. The primary health care
comprises a wide range of services and providers across the public, private and non-
governmental sector. At the clinical levels, it involves layers of services encountered in the
health and need the teams of the healthcare working collectively to provide continuous, inclusive
and person-centered care.
Body
While Australian receives primary care through the general practitioners particularly
health services in remote and rural area. The services at primary healthcare are provided
appropriately by a skilled workforce and include nurses, midwives, allied health professionals,
pharmacist, and aboriginal health workers. The primary health care is the frontline of the
Australian systems of healthcare. This is because it can be provided in the community-based

PRIMARY HEALTH CARE 3
settings and home. It is offered as the first fact of contact with the systems of healthcare in the
community where people live. The ministers of health have recognized the primary care systems
requires to be easy for the consumers to use and access and is actively designed to support them
be able to manage their health care needs and thus live as healthy as possible Stoddart & Evans,
2017).
The improve access and reduce inequity is provided through an integrated system of
service that provides care of high quality within the country and passively address service
groups. This strategy aligns with the five key strategies of the WHO. The WHO key strategies
were established to ensure that patients access quality healthcare. Reducing exclusion and social
disparities often regarded as the universal coverage is a principle aimed at ensuring equity on the
healthcare. (Marmot, Allen, Bell, Bloomer & Goldblatt, 2012) It aims at promoting models of
health systems that facilitate the long-term relationship between the general practitioners and
consumers to improve health and the wellbeing of individuals and their families in their lifetime.
The second strategy is integrating health into all sectors. This involves encouraging long-term
relationship provides the avenues of escaping these issues and in turn placing more
accountability on the practice to achieve the care of the consumer, moreover, encourages the role
of the general practitioner (GP) in remote or regional areas as a nurse practitioner and this acts as
an entry to wider systems of health for most people. Also, involves, working together with the
professional organization and primary healthcare to promote multidisciplinary development
teams at which all the members of the team are supported to develop their potential and clinical
skills fully, and this aligns with organizing health services around people expectation and needs a
principle in the world health organization.

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The healthcare workforce need is planned and developed to meet the challenges in the
future and comprises a significant increase of general practitioners supply in Australia. It
acknowledges that demand for service delivery will not be easily met especially in remote,
regional and rural areas. Furthermore, the healthcare workforce is undertaking work and
ascertaining expanded and new roles inside the clinical workforce so that gaps in existing service
delivery. Additionally, increasing stakeholder’s participation regards exploring the model of
funding that includes incentives for a focus of the population, promote quality and safety and
reduce hospitalization that is avoidable through secondary and primary prevention as stated in
improve access and reduce inequality. In Australia currently, there is a mixed model, with a
strong fee for service focus on large scale and private sector use of a salaried arrangement in the
public sector. Thus, it is important that funding should remain malleable to ensure the
circumstance and needs of various localities are accommodated. The leadership reforms that
The ranges of ecological, commercial, commercial, political, social and cultural factors
that influence health status are regarded as the determinant of health. They are often interrelating
and complex factors that contribute to the current health state and their chances of maintaining
good health or becoming injured or ill (Neutens, 2015). These situations are shaped by the
dispersal of resources, money, and power at the national and local level. The equity and social
justice as a determinant of health affect health in various ways. They reflect a concern of
reducing unequal opportunities to be healthy and are associated with the member of groups that
are less privileged such as rural residents and poor people. The department of health (DoH) has
taken a significant effort in ensuring their equity and social justice in Australian people regarding
healthcare. The equity and social justice regard to ways in which healthcare accessibility is
influenced by various factors such as education, access and wealth. In Australia, the burden of

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healthcare is huge with people being dependent on the general practitioners to access health. This
is a platform that was established to ensure that even those people who live in rural and remote
areas have to access to health and particularly the Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander's people.
Wealth affects healthcare equity and social justice. This is because people who have the
economic power are able to secure quality healthcare. However, those with low economic status
find themselves being unable to have access to quality healthcare.
Moreover, education also plays a vital role in influencing access to healthcare. Education
comprises the use of technology for both healthcare providers and healthcare users. People who
are educated often are at a greater place of accessing healthcare. Education enlightens people in
accessing quality health. Thus, empowering people to have an education will enhance peoples
access healthcare. Moreover, due to disparities of geographical areas, there is a significant
difference in people's access to healthcare. It is thus essential to state that in order to ensure there
are equity and social justice in healthcare, there needs an elaborate effort from the government of
empowering people to raise their social status. The department of health has made a significant
effort in ensuring that equity and social justice prevail in healthcare service access and delivery.
There are various epidemiological factors considered in regard to improve access and
reduce inequality. Epidemiological factors are considered as the characteristics, events or other
definable entities that have the power to bring change in a health condition or other defined
outcomes (Berkman, Kawachi & Glymour, 2014). Due to large people in Australia living under
lack of accessible healthcare especially in rural areas the government developed this strategy to
ensure there is equity in healthcare. Moreover, the age difference among the population is also a
mitigating factor. There is a significant huge difference between the old people and the youth and
consequently their access to healthcare. Furthermore, there are risk factors at which certain

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people are vulnerable to illnesses. For example, the old people are vulnerable to suffering from
chronic disease and thus the strategy is placed to ensure that there is access to healthcare and
reducing the inequalities of healthcare services delivery.
Conclusion
It is essential to point out that as this paper clearly relates to the WHO five key strategies
of healthcare. In relation to this National Primary Health Care, Strategic Framework developed
the four major strategic plans to improve healthcare delivery to people. The primary healthcare is
essential in improving equity and reducing inequality in healthcare. As considered the
philosophy of health it maintained that socioeconomic factors which affected inequality and
poverty affected health. It is essential that health is made available to all people especially those
living in remote and rural areas. Moreover, the health care must focus on prevention since the
greatest tides can be made from there. Thus, the primary health care should be available to all
people in Australia and thus ensuring their equity and reducing inequality.

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References
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health and health equity. Health, 20, 10.
Berkman, L. F., Kawachi, I., & Glymour, M. M. (2014). Social epidemiology. Oxford University
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Marmot, M., Allen, J., Bell, R., Bloomer, E., & Goldblatt, P. (2012). WHO European review of
social determinants of health and the health divide. The Lancet, 380(9846), 1011-1029.
Neutens, T. (2015). Accessibility, equity, and health care: review and research directions for
transport geographers. Journal of Transport Geography, 43, 14-27.
Standing Council on Health. NATIONAL PRIMARY HEALTH CARE STRATEGIC
FRAMEWORK (2013, April). Retrieved from:
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/6084A04118674329CA2
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Stoddart, G. L., & Evans, R. G. (2017). Producing health, consuming health care. In Why are
some people healthy and others not? Retrieved from:
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781351471640/chapters/10.4324%2F978131513
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World Health Organization (WHO). (2018). Primary health care (PHC). Retrieved from:
https://www.who.int/primary-health/en/