Recommendation 9

The Committee recommends that the Minister for Health and Ageing work with State and Territory Health Ministers through the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council to consider adopting a tiered model of health care for obesity management, incorporating prevention, community-based primary care and acute care.

Agreed.

Through its commitment to reforming Australia’s health system, the Australian Government is working in partnership with the states and territories to improve health outcomes for all Australians by implementing new arrangements for a nationally unified, locally controlled and sustainable Australian health system. The latest National Health Reform Agreement, agreed by the Council of Australian Governments on 2 August 2011, aims to: improve patient access; ensure the sustainability of public hospital funding; improve standards, transparency, performance, responsiveness and accountability of services; and improve the provision of primary health care, aged care and disability services.

The continuity of care for obesity is expected to receive significant gains from the establishment of the new national network of Medicare Locals responsible for planning, integration and coordination of primary health care services in their region. Medicare Locals will have strong links to their local communities, health professionals, service providers including obesity clinics, and consumer and patient groups, enabling them to respond effectively to local needs. Medicare Locals will:

• be responsible for making it easier for patients and service providers to navigate the health care system;
• support health professionals to provide better co-ordinated care;
• facilitate improved access to services for patients; and
• encourage greater integration between the primary health care, hospital and aged care sectors.

Medicare Locals will also present a valuable opportunity for encouraging the uptake of evidence-based practices in the management of obesity and have been identified as a stakeholder for the revised Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Overweight and Obesity.

Additional gains in coordinated and integrated primary health care will be pursued by the Australian Government through joint planning of primary health care with State and Territory Governments, including planning at regional levels though Medicare Locals. The final draft National Primary Health Care Strategic Framework has been submitted to the Standing Council on Health (SCoH) for out-of-session consideration and endorsement. The Framework will be supported by bilateral agreements which are being developed with each state and territory.