industry & policy
No reform without nurses
ACN board vice-president professor Christine Duffield, ACN board president adjunct professor Kathy
Baker, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and ACN chief executive adjunct professor Kylie Ward. Photo: ACN
A recent ACN white paper
makes the case that effective
changes to health and aged
care must be guided by input
from the workers who are on
the front lines with patients.
Kylie Ward interviewed by Dallas Bastian
N
ursing is not being used to its
potential, leaving the door open
to reform that does not reflect the
realities of providing healthcare and aged
care, a white paper from the Australian
College of Nursing (ACN) warns.
Nurses are Essential in Health and Aged
Care Reform was launched in October,
in Canberra. It outlines the contribution
nurses make to leading healthcare and
aged care, and the importance of a strong
nursing voice in achieving sustainable,
person-centred reform.
The paper calls on Australian
governments to engage with ACN and
the nursing profession to ensure nurses
are represented at all levels of health and
aged-care reform.
“Engaging nurses in the health and agedcare reform agenda is critically important
to ensure that it reflects the practical
realities of providing health and aged care,”
the white paper stated. “Nurses, therefore,
must be key leaders in discussions that
set standards and determine models of
care. The nursing profession is ideally
placed to enact the health and aged-care
reforms needed for a more integrated,
contemporary and sustainable health and
aged-care system.”
Moving forward, ACN would like
14 agedcareinsite.com.au
Australian governments to work closely
with the college in health and aged-care
reform to:
• recognise the nursing profession’s role
• invest in policy platforms that enable the
full participation of the nursing profession
• ensure the nursing voice is heard in
strategic policy debates and reform
developments
• recognise the value of nurse-led
innovation
• support nurses in working to their
full scope, and expanded scope where
necessary
• acknowledge the pivotal role of nurses in
setting standards of care.
Here, ACN chief executive Kylie Ward
discusses the white paper with Aged Care
Insite, and explains why nurses must be
granted a more meaningful role in the
health policy debate.
ACI: The white paper outlines the
contribution nurses make in leading
health and aged care, and the
importance of a strong nursing voice
in achieving sustainable and personcentred reform. Why is it particularly
important that governments hear this
message now?
KW: We know there are many challenges
facing the Australian health and aged-care
system, such as rising rates of chronic
disease, our ageing population, managing
demand, and of course workforce
challenges. It is absolutely essential that a
strong nursing voice is heard, because the
nursing workforce can, and does, address
some of these challenges.
But at the moment, we have not had the
necessary level of representation or the
proportionate representation for this to occur.
What role must governments and other
industry stakeholders play in ensuring
nurses’ voices are being heard?
Nurses must be included at all
decision-making tables. We see that all
communication is two-way, so whilst
we need to be invited and that should
not be tokenistic – not just one seat
but well represented – we also need to
stand up and demand to be there, for
the betterment of health and aged care
and for the outcomes of patients in our
community.
The design of the reform agenda
may restrict nursing representation and
participation, so we’ll have a look at that
moving forward.
The terms of reference and other
governance instituted to undertake the
reform is something to be considered.
Certainly, we don’t want nursing
excluded in nursing discussions, but
nursing needs to be included in all health
and aged-care discussions. We wi ll
continue to look where it’s essential for us
to be included in those discussions and
how we can get ourselves there.
The white paper states that sustainable
health and aged care will be possible
only if nurses are supported in working
to their full scope and expanded scope
where necessary. What role does a
nurse’s scope of practice play in policy
debates and reform development?
The role that a nurse’s scope of practice plays
in policy debate and reform development