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Key events
Pharmacists are pushing for broader powers to prescribe medications, which they say will take pressure off GPs and the federal budget, while saving patients from having to book a doctor’s appointment every time they want to pick up a script.
Trials across the states and territories already allow chemists to prescribe medicines for hormonal contraception, urinary tract infections and skin conditions, among others.
Expanding pharmacist prescribing to asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hormonal contraception, and cardiovascular risk reduction could save the health system $1 billion a year, a report released by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia on Tuesday found.
It could also free up more than 10 million GP appointments and prevent 30,000 hospitalisations annually, modelling by health economics consultancy HTANALYSTS showed.
“This modelling shows that empowering specially trained pharmacists to prescribe for appropriate conditions isn’t just good for patients – it’s good for the entire health system,” Pharmacy Guild president Trent Twomey said.
Women and families of disabled Australians will be unfairly affected by a sweeping rewrite of the national disability insurance scheme, advocacy groups have warned, AAP reports.
A government inquiry into proposed NDIS changes is this week expected to hear evidence that access changes – designed in part to halt ballooning costs – will negatively impact mothers of disabled children, even if they are adults.
About $11bn of the $16.6bn savings forecast for 2029/30 will come from eligibility changes, including more detailed assessments, modelling from the Grattan Institute shows.
The changes are likely to reduce NDIS participants to 598,000 in 2030/31 – a third of the expected numbers if no changes were made.
But before changes kick in fully, the majority of cuts will be made in short-term measures, particularly social and community participation funding, which means many clients will rely on their families to help them participate in everyday activities.
“These savings won’t be achieved without shifting costs onto families and informal carers,” the Grattan Institute said in its submission to the inquiry.
Women With Disabilities Australia warned care responsibilities were likely to shift disproportionately to women, who might need to take time out of work to look after disabled friends or relatives.
Support for Jacinta Allan declines
Dire polling showing an increasingly on-the-nose Victorian state government would be defeated in November’s election could reignite party rumblings to remove its deeply unpopular premier, AAP reports.
Victorian Labor’s primary vote has slumped to 23%, compared with the state’s Coalition’s 27%, while a surging One Nation shot to 25%, according to a Freshwater Strategy poll conducted for the Herald Sun.
If replicated at the November state election, the 12-year-old Labor government would be turfed from elected office, as it trails the Coalition 47 to 53 on a two-party-preferred basis.
Respondents believe it is time for Jacinta Allan to move on as premier, according to the pollster, but the Coalition would still need to pick up 16 seats required to form majority government.
Allan’s personal popularity has sunk lower, dropping five points for a net favourability rating of minus 37 points and trails far behind the Liberal leader, Jess Wilson, who has a positive net rating of 15.
Only 25% of respondents felt she would make a better premier compared with 49% who think Wilson will do a better job.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Nick Visser with the main action.
Jacinta Allan will be feeling the heat today after a poll showed her Labor party trailing the Coalition and One Nation before November’s state election. More coming up.
Women and families of disabled Australians will be unfairly affected by a sweeping rewrite of the national disability insurance scheme, advocacy groups have warned. More soon.
