The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) has slammed claims from the Australian Medical Association (AMA) that nurse practitioner-led clinics could put patients at risk.
ANMF Acting Branch Secretary Phoebe Mansell described the assertions as “baseless”.
AMA Tasmania last week warned against Labor’s promise to roll out nurse-led clinics at regional hospitals across the state, arguing they would endanger patient safety by replacing doctors with “less trained staff”.
“It takes 10 to 12 years to train a GP,” the AMA’s Dr Meg Creely said. “You cannot replace doctors without compromising patient safety.”
But Mansell said nurse practitioners are more than qualified for the job and play a crucial role in the healthcare system.
“Nurse practitioners are senior clinicians with postgraduate and master’s qualifications,” she said.
“They perform comprehensive health assessments, diagnose and treat illnesses, prescribe medications, order and interpret diagnostic tests and refer to specialists.”
Mansell said all of this is well within their scope of practice.
She pointed to successful examples in rural Victoria, where nurse practitioner-led after-hours emergency services have improved access to care and eased the burden on GPs.
“Within Australia, nurse practitioner-led clinics have been successfully implemented across public hospitals and community settings, particularly for chronic disease management,” Mansell said.
“The ANMF urges all major political parties to align with national best practice and endorse more [nurse practitioner-led] clinics.”
