Medicare statistics – year-to-date dashboard (July to September 2023-24)

The Final Report from the Kruk Review, led by Ms Robyn Kruk AO, makes 28 recommendations designed to ease skills shortages in critical health professions and reform Australia's regulatory settings for overseas trained health practitioners and international students who have studied in Australia. The review recommends simplifying and streamlining application processes, including qualification recognition and comparability assessments, among other reforms.

This article provides a good summary of an article published in The Australian: Staffing reforms trigger surge in aged care shutdowns. It refers to a model created by a coalition of academics from the University of Melbourne, University of the Sunshine Coast and Monash University, which shows the nation is on track to experience deep workforce shortages in the aged care sector, as more aged care facilities close down and government nursing reforms place extra strain on the sector.

This article explores the Kruk Review and summarises the recommendations from its Final Report, published last week. The report makes recommendations to improve the end-to-end regulatory process for International Health Practitioners seeking registration and work in Australia. Overall, they aim to boost the health and medical workforce in Australia, alleviate skills shortages, and increase Australia’s competitive advantage in attracting key health professionals from overseas.

This in-depth and well-referenced article from MJA Insight talks about the 'General Practitioners with a Special Interest' program, whereby GPs can work across community and hospital settings. This model, which originated in the UK, can benefit practitioners, hospitals, health services and patients alike, by strengthening collaboration and continuity of care, reducing waitlists, and improving discharge rates in hospitals.