Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee, , 44:26 to 48:28
Examination of NHRA reforms including First Nations outcomes, workforce strategies, and the progress of health data sharing and digital transformation.
Topics: Health, First Nations, Government IT systems
Speakers: Mr Ross Hawkins, Senator The Hon Carol Brown, Mr Blair Comley, Senator Ellie Whiteaker, Unknown Speaker
And sorry, I should have said I was asking more generally around the national health reform agreement. So in addition to the extra 25 billion above the baseline of which I think two uh 220 billion, what other ways uh uh is the government looking at um taking that pressure off hospitals? What other programs have we got in place?
Well I think um maybe Mr. Hawkins will talk about I assume urgent care clinics and bulk building will be a significant part of that. But Mr. Mr. Hawkins will comment.
Well I was gonna say, Senator is actually part of the NHRA, there is clearly a kind of funding component of it, but there's also significant reforms within that agreement that were signed up to. So for example, there was reforms within the agreement relating clearly on improving First Nations outcomes and what we call Schedule B, which is around kind of the arrangements of us working with the coalition on a range of measures to support uh First Nations uh communities. There are mechanisms within there, there's an agreement to setting up and looking at innovations in health care. Uh it's what we call the service model reform funding stream. So there's work that's going on with the states and territories looking at what does innovative care look like and how could that be utilised more broadly across.
And do we have a time frames over this work?
Yes, Senator. So it all began one July once the agreement uh was signed up to. We've also put to um uh kind of health ministers a bit of a strategy over the next five years. Um so there's various, as you can imagine, with this type of money with a range of different streams, there is a very kind of complex kind of programme of work that we've signed up to collectively do with the jurisdictions and that we're working through those um in a kind of measured and kind of coordinated way, working closely with our state and territory colleagues. Sorry, and I interrupt your I was also going to mention there are an agreement to data and digital reforms in terms of looking at uh transitions of care. Um there's an agreement in terms of looking at our uh kind of workforce more broadly because there's a clear role that the Commonwealth plays, but obviously kind of clear impacts on the states and territories, and there's also work uh in place with AHW just around the kind of broader performance of the overarching kind of health system. So whilst we talk about the NHRA being kind of around funding and hospital funding, actually it goes to a kind of broader way in which the Commonwealth will work with the States and Territories on health system outcomes.
And what are we looking to achieve when you talk about data and digital reform?
Yeah, um Mr. Martmore do we go? I mean just working out kind of uh where to go with that. So I think kind of there's been a lot of work that's taken place over previous uh agreements with data and data sharing exists between the states and territories. As you can imagine, a lot of the service delivery takes place in the jurisdictions and that data kind of needs to come through into the way in which the kind of common.
I just wonder whether it's that you mentioned that it's it's ongoing work and it's been going on for a long time. How is it progressing?
Uh Senator's progressing well. I mean, noting that the agreement was agreed on one July.
But previous to that there was work.
Yep, I think Senator, like there's always been issues with some of the data and data transparency and sharing jurisdictions are responsible for the delivery of their own health systems and collect data in different ways. HIW, I think would be here on Thursday morning. I think we'd be well placed to be able to talk through some of those metrics and some of those complications because they will draw that data in across Australia to try and provide national statistics and that sense of kind of what's taking place in in different jurisdictions.
Thanks, Chair.
Excellent. Thank you. I'll go back to Senator Gatonby and then to Senator Ruston.