Primary Health Care 10 Year Plan: Response to Discussion Paper to Inform the Development of the Primary Health Reform Steering Group Recommendations

This submission responds to the Primary Health Reform Steering Group’s discussion paper informing its recommendations for the Australian Government’s Primary Health Care 10 Year Plan, following its twenty draft recommendations. Research Australia endorses the Plan’s direction and maintains that reform should be led by evidence, drawing on Australian expertise in health systems research and health economics, and should account for the different economic and cultural drivers in the public and private parts of primary care, including moves toward value-based care. It recommends a continuous self-improving approach in which programs are trialled, evaluated and modified before being scaled, overseen by the proposed Australian National Institute for Primary Health Care Research Translation and Innovation. It recommends research on integrating wearables, remote monitoring, early intervention and social prescribing to support self-care; a research-active workforce across all primary care disciplines, supported by a national workforce plan; and recognition of translators, health coaches and peer workers as integral team members. Citing the United Kingdom’s School for Primary Care Research, which receives £22 million for 2021–2026, as a partial model, it proposes adding telehealth and remote health and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health as research themes, with co-design involving practitioners, patients and carers. Other recommendations cover better linkage of routinely collected health data, sustained translational research funding, applied health economics, a national platform for sharing research outcomes and emergency preparedness research. Case studies include Bond University, Macquarie University’s Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services and the Hunter Medical Research Institute.