Latest news with #Healthdirect
West Australian
20-05-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Federal election: What Labor's win means for Australia's $88m agriculture industry
Labor went to the Federal election without a firm agriculture policy but its resounding election win means a suite of farming-related pledges will be rolled out during the next four years. Creating a National Food Security Strategy, bolstering farm safety and extending the instant asset write-off for another year were among the most significant promises the party made to agriculture before the May 3 Federal election. But Anthony Albanese's plan to ban live sheep exports by May 1, 2028 now looks set to become a reality as the Federal Government pushes on with rolling out its $139m industry transition package. While funding commitments targeted directly at the regions were scarce, health was a significant focus with $204.5 million to improve existing and expand Healthdirect services, $200m to create a 24-hour telehealth service, $135.2m for online mental health support and $32m for men's mental health services. The Prime Minister's planned live export ban and fears about Labor's tax on unrealised gains policy have been criticised by farming groups, but move to pour $3.5m investment into creating National Food Security Strategy was widely welcomed. The strategy — announced prior to the election — would recognise the importance of safeguarding food supply chains and bolster the resilience of Australia's agriculture and food production systems. Its plan to impose a 30 per cent tax on unrealised capital gains made superannuation accounts worth $3m or more was one of the most contentious policy, with National Farmers Federation estimating there are about 17,000 SMSF accounts that hold farming land. Other policies welcomed included a $2.5m injection to keep Farmsafe Australia running for the next three years, with after the number of people killed on farms doubled to 72 last year. A further $20m was committed to a campaign to encourage more Australians to buy locally made products. The On Farm Connectivity Program — which offers rebates of up to 50 per cent on equipment and technology — received a $20m investment in a new round, worth up to $30,000 per applicant. Labor also committed to strategically examine the potential to grow a biofuels feedstock industry to support Australia's transition to net zero and backed the NFF's roadmap for agriculture to become a $100 billion industry by 2030. The Federal Government also pledged an extension of the $20,000 instant asset write-off until June 30 next year, a move welcomed by small businesses but short of the Coalition's pledge to offer a permanent write-off. In announcing the policy, Mr Albanese said the short-term incentive was designed to encourage businesses to spend as a matter of priority. Community infrastructure was also a focus of Labor's pre-election commitments, with its Community Upgrade Fund receiving a boost to enable local facilities like pools, libraries and sports clubs to share $100 million to become more energy efficient. Labor also committed to a Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation to bridge mobile telecommunications blackspots, requiring mobile operators to provide equitable access to baseline outdoor mobile coverage across Australia. Labor's $200m to create a 24-hour telehealth service, dubbed '1800MEDICARE', will be introduced by January next year, while a pledge Movember, Men's Sheds and male-specific mental health services will receive a significant boost. This includes $8.3 million to support another two years of Men's Shed Initiative's National Shed Development Program, and $7.4 million to expand Movember's Ahead of the Game program, delivered in partnership with the AFL. Also included is $3.0 million to Healthy Male to support the delivery of Plus Paternal Initiative, and $2.0 million to the Black Dog Institute to research men's mental health and suicide prevention at the Danny Frawley Centre for Health and Wellbeing. The controversial indexation of excise on on draught beer has been frozen for two years, and the Federal Government will left a the $350,000 excise remission cap to $400,000 for all eligible alcohol manufacturers. It also committed $7m in the recent budget to support horticultural conferences, agritech events and other agricultural trade shows for two years from July 1, including $2m for the world's biggest sheep, lamb and wool conference Lambex. It has also pledged $6.8m in 2025-26 in international engagement and technical market access activities to support agricultural exports in a changing trade environment.
News.com.au
10-05-2025
- Health
- News.com.au
Expert help at hand: Getting the right health advice when you need it most
An extensive range of health care services is providing a safe, reliable and efficient alternative to South Australians attending hospital emergency departments if they need urgent care. Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, 24/7 pharmacies, Priority Care Centres, Child and Adolescent Virtual Urgent Care Service, the SA Virtual Care Service, a Virtual Women's Assessment Service, SA Health Urgent Care Hubs, Medicare Mental Health Centres and Healthdirect services the health needs of all South Australians. Care options are available virtually, and include services in metropolitan and regional areas, reducing the burden on hospital demand. For many, knowing when to go straight to an emergency department, call an ambulance or wait to see their GP can be a dilemma. This uncertainty has historically created pressure on the state's ambulance and hospital services. To ease this pressure, Healthdirect Australia – the national virtual public health information service – provides free, trusted health information and advice over the phone or online 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Jointly funded by the Federal and all state and territory governments, the service has been helping people manage their health for more than a decade. Healthdirect Australia Chief Medical Officer Dr Nirvana Luckraj says the service plays a crucial role in the health landscape. 'Many people are not sure how urgently they need care or what type of care is appropriate,' Dr Luckraj says. 'Healthdirect helps bridge this gap by guiding people to the right care at the right time, empowering them to make informed decisions and lead healthier lives. 'Importantly our service has positively impacted the healthcare system by safely diverting a significant number of callers from emergency departments to more appropriate care pathways.' Aside from having an online 'Symptom Checker' – which allows people to quickly and easily check their symptoms and get advice using a self-guided tirage process – a call to the Healthdirect helpline can quickly put people in touch with a registered nurse. The nurse will ask a series of clinical questions and – based on the urgency of their respective situation – callers are then advised on how to best manage their health issue. This could range from advice on how to best look after themselves at home to information on the type of medical help they might need, such as connecting them to the appropriate health service from a GP, virtual care pathway or urgent care. In an emergency, the caller is transferred straight to Triple Zero. Callers to Healthdirect may be offered a telephone or video call back from a Healthdirect GP. Virtual GPs can provide an e-prescription via SMS and can also upload prescriptions and a call summary to the caller's My Health Record so it is available to their GP. The Healthdirect helpline can connect callers to the various urgent care services available across the state, offering an alternative to attending an emergency department. A Healthdirect nurse may advise a caller whose situation is urgent but not life-threatening to visit an urgent care service. Nationally, the urgent care service receives around 1.4 million calls a year while the website has about 46 million sessions. The Symptom Checker is accessed 2.1 million times a year. Dr Luckraj says that in SA, people most commonly call about fatigue, abdominal pain, headache, swelling and 'feeling sick and queasy'. 'The most frequent users of the Healthdirect helpline are women aged 30 to 39 years, often calling about their own health, closely followed by parents seeking advice for their own children,' she says. The Symptom Checker is most popular among people aged 20 to 29 years. Across both the helpline and the Symptom Checker, usage spikes in winter due to searches related to colds, flu and other respiratory illnesses. For more information visit Urgent Care Clinics offer help for all Six Medicare Urgent Care Clinics across the state are ensuring South Australians have greater access to urgent health care. The clinics – at Elizabeth, Para Hills West, Marion, Morphett Vale, Mount Gambier and Royal Park – are open for extended hours seven days a week and offer walk-in treatment for non-life-threatening conditions. All treatment is bulk billed for valid Medicare Card holders. The clinics help to reduce pressure on hospitals and emergency departments, allowing them to focus on higher urgency and life-threatening conditions. Patients can walk into any Medicare Urgent Care Clinic for urgent care without the need for an appointment or referral. Clinics are supported by highly skilled independent doctors and nurses, using excellent treatment and procedure room facilities. The clinics give South Australians more options to see a doctor or nurse when they need priority medical attention for an illness or injury that can be managed without a trip to the emergency department but cannot wait for a regular appointment with a GP. Medicare Urgent Care Clinics provide acute care and treatment for: â—� Minor infections â—� Minor fractures, sprains, sports injuries and neck and back pain â—� Urinary tract infections (UTIs) â—� Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) â—� Minor cuts â—� Insect bites and rashes â—� Minor eye and ear infections â—� respiratory illness â—� gastroenteritis â—� mild burns Medicare Urgent Care Clinics won't be able to see people for complex conditions. In these cases, patients' own GPs should be their first point of contact. Emergency or life-threatening care requires immediate medical attention and management by an emergency department or hospital. If you or a loved one has a life-threatening injury or illness, call triple zero (000) or go to your nearest emergency department. Medicare Urgent Care Clinic locations â—� Elizabeth Medicare UCC – Elizabeth Medical & Dental Centre, 30 Philip Hwy, Elizabeth â—� Para Hills Medicare UCC – Suite 1, Specialist Centre, 33 McIntyre Rd, Para Hills West â—� Marion Medicare UCC – Marion Domain Medical & Dental Centre, 453 Morphett Rd, Oaklands Park â—� Morphett Vale Medicare UCC – 1 Doctors Rd, Morphett Vale â—� Mount Gambier Medicare UCC – Mount Gambier Family Health, 3/14 Crouch St S, Mount Gambier â—� Western Medicare UCC – Old Port Road Medical and Dental Centre, 1202-1210 Old Port Rd, Royal Park For more information, click here. When to visit an emergency department or call triple zero (000) â—� Chest pain or tightness â—� Breathing difficulties â—� Uncontrollable bleeding â—� Severe burns â—� Poisoning â—� Unconsciousness or seizures â—� Numbness or paralysis â—� A life-threatening injury â—� Ongoing fever in infants â—� Unresponsive 24/7 pharmacy care the right prescription Melanie Browning thought in this day and age, there must be a 24-hour pharmacy open somewhere in Adelaide that could help her son Mitchell, who was vomiting in the middle of the night. Mitchell, 20, had already visited hospital a couple of days prior to treat severe dehydration symptoms but, as his vomiting had eased, they had not filled a script they were given. So, when his illness resumed at 3am that morning in February, she looked online for somewhere to fill the script to avoid another trip to a hospital emergency department. 'The thought of just sitting at hospital for hours was not great,' she says. 'I thought, 'Surely there'd be a 24-hour chemist, it's 2025' – and there was. I couldn't believe it. 'I jumped in the car – I live in Dernancourt – and drove over to Norwood and it was just fantastic. They filled the script and I had a great chat with the pharmacist while I was there. 'It saved us a trip to hospital; we did not have to wait until 8am (to fill the script) and have him get worse – we were able to start getting him better.' Three Adelaide pharmacies – National Pharmacies at Norwood, Chemist Warehouse at Clovelly Park and Chemist Warehouse at Saints Shopping Centre at Salisbury Plain – are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week as part of SA Health's Community Pharmacy initiative. As well as dispensing medicines and other pharmacy goods, pharmacists can provide their expert advice on healthcare options. Browning says the advice provided by the pharmacist on duty that night was particularly beneficial to her son's situation. 'Not that he was diagnosing him but the pharmacist was giving me his thoughts about what we could do and some advice on where to go from here, to make another doctor's appointment – it was a full coverage of care from the pharmacist,' she says. After seeing a doctor later, Mitchell discovered he had been suffering from a bacterial infection called Campylobacter bacteria, as the pharmacist had suggested. Browning says the pharmacy's security guard also made her feel safe in the unfamiliar location at that time of night, keeping the pharmacy locked while she was inside and then monitoring her until she returned to her car. 'The service is not only safe and readily available to people, but it's so simple and easy,' she says. 'Certainly having a chat with the pharmacist and getting things straight in your head, to me was just fantastic.' She urges more South Australians to remember the service when they are considering whether hospital is the right option when they are ill. 'If there's a reason that you don't have to go to hospital and keep that queue (in the emergency department) from being so long, that would be a good thing for fellow South Australians because there's just too many people waiting there that probably don't really need to be there,' she says.
SBS Australia
27-04-2025
- Health
- SBS Australia
Coalition will match Labor's $200 million expansion of telehealth services
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left), Opposition leader Peter Dutton (right) and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke (second left) after the third leaders' debate of the 2025 federal election campaign on 22 April 2025. Credit: AAP Image / James Brickwood The Coalition has pledged to match Labor's promise to launch a 24-hour '1800MEDICARE' service, allowing patients to access free after-hours general practice telehealth consultations. Labor has pledged $204.5 million over four years to revamp the existing Healthdirect service, operated in conjunction with the states and territories. Labor's promised telehealth overhaul, which it says would be in place by 1 January 2026, would ensure patients requiring urgent care between 6pm and 8am on weeknights or during weekends had access to a bulk-billed consultation with an after-hours GP via phone or video. Registered nurses would staff the line 24 hours a day on weekdays and weekends to provide immediate advice and refer patients to local GPs, hospitals or Medicare Urgent Care Clinics. The '1800Medicare' GP would have capacity to advise treatment of short-term illness injury or illness, and provide emergency prescriptions, with every consultation recorded under the MyHealth Record scheme. Healthdirect currently operates a 24-hour advice line, but does not offer integrated 24/7 telehealth GP consultations across all jurisdictions. "At this election, Australia faces a clear choice: a stronger Medicare with more bulk billing and more free urgent care under Labor, or more cuts to Medicare under [Opposition leader] Peter Dutton' s Liberals," Albanese said. On Sunday, the Coalition said it would match Labor's plan but added that it was "misleading for the prime minister to claim this is a new measure". "This is a rebadging of the existing Healthdirect service," a media statement from Opposition health spokesperson Anne Ruston said. "The prime minister should stop playing political games and focus on Australians' health." Labor expects the rebranded program to reduce pressure on public hospitals across the country, particularly Queensland and Tasmania, where not all existing Healthdirect services are uniformly available. "Around 250,000 Australians will avoid an unnecessary trip to a hospital emergency department, because of the free urgent GP care provided by 1800MEDICARE," Health Minister Mark Butler said. The policy capitalises on the booming popularity of telehealth consultations after the pandemic, and will also combat an increase in online-only GP services, which are not integrated with the Medicare system. According to the Medicare Benefits Schedule Review Advisory Committee, such services, which offer quick access to prescriptions and medical certificates, "do not support integrated, safe and high-quality care". On Saturday, Butler appeared in Launceston with Albanese, where the government in February unveiled an $8.5 billion funding injection to lift Medicare bulk billing rates and increase healthcare staff. At the time, the Coalition was quick to match the promise "dollar for dollar". The Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) has welcomed the proposed telehealth expansion, saying it would be "a positive step forward". The president of the RACGP, Dr Michael Wright, said: "After-hours care is a key part of what GPs do in communities nation-wide every day, and this announcement recognises that." He also urged the government to work with GPs in implementing the plan. "We look forward to understanding the detail of this program, and working with the government to make sure that general practice is consulted every step of the way. It is essential that this service integrates with existing general practice care." Meanwhile, the Opposition leader has begun the final week of campaigning in Melbourne, flagging an intention to showcase Coalition momentum by visiting 28 key seats — around four a day — before polls close on Saturday. Needing to win 21 seats to form a majority government, Dutton is embarking on a cross-country trip seeking to tap into lingering cost-of-living anger. In the coming days, Dutton is expected to campaign in a number of seats held by for the first time since the writs were issued. Kooyong, Goldstein and Mackellar are among the seats the Opposition Leader is yet to visit, having made a brief appearance in teal-held Curtin in the campaign's second week. Gilmore, Aston and Gorton and are among the Labor seats Dutton is looking to flip, with liberal figures dismissive of published polling suggesting their primary vote has experienced a steady decline over recent weeks. The prime minister was also urging Labor faithful not to be complacent, telling party volunteers in Bass to not "leave anything in the tank" in the run-up to 3 May. Visit the to access articles, podcasts and videos from SBS News, NITV and our teams covering more than 60 languages.
Sky News AU
26-04-2025
- Health
- Sky News AU
Labor sticking with ‘main selling point' of health in final week of campaign
Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell says Labor is sticking with its 'main selling point' heading into the final week of the election campaign – health. Labor is doubling down on health, promising Australians will have access to free, after-hours telehealth services if re-elected. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is planning on rebranding into Healthdirect to '1800 MEDICARE'.
News.com.au
26-04-2025
- Health
- News.com.au
Labor promises 24/7 health advice hotline with free after hours GP appointments
Sick Australians who require urgent medical attention will be able to access a free telehealth appointment with a GP on weekends and weeknights between 6pm to 8am, in a major election pitch Anthony Albanese is set to unveil on Sunday. A re-elected Labor government will rebrand current national Healthdirect services, known as Nurse-on-Call in Victoria into the aptly-named 1800MEDICARE hotline, with a slated start date of January 1, 2026. The announcement also comes with a $204.5m funding boost to increase the Medicare-backed telehealth capabilities of the health system. A caller will be able to access medical advice via a registered nurse 24/7, and if needed they will be able to refer you to additional services like a normal-hours GP, a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, or a local hospital. If a patient requires an urgent GP appointment, the nurse will be able to refer them to a free phone or video GP appointment, and the service is available all-hours on weekends and between 6pm to 8am on weeknights. The Prime Minister will detail the major pledge on Sunday at a Labor rally in Western Sydney, marking the final week of campaigning before Australians hit the polls on May 3. 'At this election Australia faces a clear choice: a stronger Medicare with more bulk billing and more free urgent care under Labor, or more cuts to Medicare under Peter Dutton's Liberals,' he said. 'Life isn't 9 to 5. With 1800MEDICARE, neither is health care.' 'Whether your family needs urgent or ongoing health care, under Labor, Medicare will be there for all Australians, in every community. Health Minister Mark Butler quoted data from the NSW Health that a statewide telehealth service could save about 85,000 unnecessary presentations to the emergency room every year. Healthdirect data also states about 84 per cent of patients who are able to access a telehealth GP appointment do not then decide to go to the ER. Extrapolating the figures nationally, Mr Butler said about 250,000 Australians would be able to 'avoid an unnecessary trip to a hospital emergency department' through the 1800Medicare hotline. 'When illness or injury strikes in your family, 1800MEDICARE will be there – a 24/7 health advice line and after-hours GP telehealth service, backed by Medicare,' he said. 'With Medicare Urgent Care Clinics and 1800MEDICARE, free urgent care will be a 20-minute drive away for four in five Australians, and a phone call away for every Australian.' Amid the election campaign, Labor has warned a new Coalition government would cut funding to health programs, despite the Opposition Leader vowing that spending on health will remain at current settings. The Coalition has said it will also implement Labor's $8.5bn funding boost to increase bulk-billed GP sessions by 18 million a year, which would make nine out of 10 GP visits free by 2030, and triple the number of fully bulk-billed clinics. It will also match Labor's vow to cap PBS-listed prescriptions to $25 per script.
