Why GPs face new tussle with nurse practitioners

The Federal Government is looking once more at nurse practitioners as a workforce fix

Is the Federal Government about to ‘free up’ nurse practitioners and expand their diagnostic and prescribing role in primary care without the oversight of GPs?

A decade ago, there was alarm that this was going to happen when the Rudd Government created time-based MBS items to fund their work in private practice.

The issue is again under the microscope, this time, as a result of Greg Hunt’s 10-year primary care plan due out soon. 

A Department of Health discussion paper, released before Christmas, refers to the rapid growth of the nurse practitioner workforce — its size increasing from 590 in 2010 to 2,251 now.

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