RDN represented at Primary Health Care Congress in Adelaide

RDN’s Sector Advancement Manager in Knowledge Mobilisation, Annette Lenstra, recently represented RDN by attending the inaugural one-day Primary Health Care (PHC) Congress as part of the 2024 Essential Health Summit held in Adelaide.  

The Congress brought together leaders from across primary health to help inform a post-Congress paper that will be prepared by the Primary Health Care (PHC) Alliance.  

RDN is a founding member of the PHC Alliance and is a signatory to an MOU developed by the Alliance which formally recognises the joint interests held by the signatories in transforming the primary health care system to a model of multidisciplinary primary health care through collaborative efforts that support system-wide reform. 

“RDN is committed to representing the interests of rural communities in pursuit of equitable access to health and social care,” Annette said. 

“Hopefully this [Congress] is the first of many and, over time, we get enough consensus within the system to enable the decision makers to engage with real, sustainable system reform,” she said.  

Scope of Practice Review Lead, Professor Mark Cormack from the Australian National University, attended the Congress and says it’s really important when Governments are considering reforms, they know the experts are aligned, and they don’t have to deal with sorting out disputes between one part of the sector and another.  

“…Having that strong uniform voice with consensus about what needs to be done makes the job of decision making for governments just that much easier,” Professor Cormack said. 

APNA’s General Manager of Health Care Solutions, Mia Dhillon, said the Congress provided a “collaborative opportunity to come together and address some of the major issues in the primary health care environment.” 

Other signatories to the MOU include the Allied Health Professions Australia (AHPA), Australasian College of Paramedicine (ACP), Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA), Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA), Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM) and the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA). 

Watch:

View a short video of the PHC Congress here.