5 new members were welcomed to HRG.

Michael then provided an overview of the scope of his new Centre for Future Health Systems, based jointly at UNSW and The University of Oxford. The Centre has been funded by a philanthropic gift from the Ian Potter Foundation and will work at local, state, national and international levels to support research, policy development and advocacy across eight themes:

1. Health systems reform to improve equity of access to health care services and equity of outcomes
2. Strengthening primary care health systems and better integration of care provided in the community
3. Transforming hospital care to support adoption of innovations in health systems reform while improving the integration of health services and person-centred focus of care
4. Safe and appropriate adoption of digital health innovations, including telehealth, artificial intelligence and the use of data to support health systems reform
5. Ongoing health workforce reforms to meet future population needs
6. Supporting health systems to mitigate and meet the future challenges of climate change
7. Supporting health systems to prepare for ageing population, future immigration and population growth pressures
8. Incorporating lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic into health systems reform to support future emergency planning and address inequities highlighted during the pandemic

The Centre is still being established, but when operational will operate across all UNSW faculties including computer science, architecture, law, business and biology.

Discussion then ensued, covering a range of topics:

• Consideration of the entire population lifespan, especially the young who are often overlooked
• Contemplation of support for preventive efforts with a focus on primordial and primary prevention, healthy ageing and access to healthy food including a call to participate in the FSANZ Act 1991 Review
• Integration of oral health and allied health specialties into a holistic approach
• Supporting existing clinicians who are starting to leave the system (albeit nowhere near as bad as in the NHS where the moral injury is acute, intense and across the board)
• The criticality of supporting the people providing care through mentorship
• The consequences of general practice’s decline
• Challenging the assumption that we are experiencing workforce shortages vs. poor distribution of staff and arbitrary professional scope rigidities
• The importance of focusing on the quality of care provided (noting that poor care harms vulnerable patients)
• Strategic decommissioning of major healthcare infrastructure and devolvement of services into the community e.g. Denmark, Toronto
• Alignment of incentives and funding models with desired outcomes
• Support for staff-initiated training programs e.g. Nurse Practitioner programs
• Opportunity for cross-disciplinary education of trauma informed/trauma assumed care
• The problematic impact of treasury’s influence on healthcare policy making and ability for professional bodies to set minimum care standards that prevent financially motivated reductions in care quality
• Being a force for good in the world

Michael indicated that he would be happy to return to provide an update on progress next year when the Centre was expected to be fully operational.

:: HRG Digest

Thanks to colleagues who have recommended links of interest, as per below.

For practical reasons, these links will be collated and dispatched, unvetted, in batches. When submitting, it would be appreciated if members could be selective with the links, nominate to which HRG Policy Reform Focus Area* the content pertains, and include a short, one sentence summary. If the content behind a link is paywalled, please provide the PDF. There is also an HRG Members in the Arena section for links to newly published work of interest by HRG members, and a Provocations section for generally interesting pieces not specifically related to focus areas.