This week’s column features calls for increased investment in breastfeeding support services and programs, for reforms to Medicare chronic disease management allied health items, and for better care for the foot health of people with diabetes.
Efforts to improve the national responses to syphilis, to defend the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), and to promote better oral health and related services are also covered.
Meanwhile, it’s timely to celebrate the strength, leadership and commitment of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Health Practitioners.
The quotable?
Ministers discussed future opportunities to support obesity prevention through food regulation, and agreed to a governance structure to guide implementation and reporting between the food regulation system and agencies involved in implementing these national strategies.”
Charles Maskell-Knight writes:
The week 4-10 August was Dental Health Week, with a focus this year on paediatric dentistry.
The Australian Dental Association (ADA) was very successful in generating media coverage for the week, with links to various media reports presented here.
The Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) issued a statement titled SMILE-stones for kids 😀, reproducing the ADA’s tips for good childhood oral health.
Croakey marked Dental Health Week by publishing an article by Susan McKee, CEO of Oral Health Victoria, making the economic case for providing equitable access to dental care.
McKee proposes:
- Expanding access to care through better promotion and use of the Child Dental Benefits Schedule, the introduction of a Senior Dental Benefits Scheme, and increased investment in public dental services
- Starting to establish a nationally agreed framework to ensure that publicly funded services are evidence-based, cost-effective, and equitable
- Appointing a Commonwealth Chief Oral Health and Dental Officer to lead and coordinate national policy, workforce planning and funding models.
In other dental news, 4 August was National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day, marked by the Indigenous Dental Association of Australia.
The association said “lower rates of tooth decay and improved oral health outcomes are seen in communities with access to culturally safe oral healthcare; community-led prevention programs; and access to fluoridated drinking water”.
“Let’s use what works to start all kids on the right path to good oral health for life.”
Ministers and government
Health Minister Mark Butler issued a statement marking the opening of the 90th Urgent Care Clinic.
(The 90th clinic was actually one of three clinics previously operated by the Victorian Government which were transferred to the Commonwealth.)
He said that “over 50 per cent of presentations to Medicare Urgent Care Clinics in Victoria have been outside standard business hours, which means the clinics are filling an important gap in services across extended hours and over the weekend”.
In a media conference on the Urgent Care Clinics, the Prime Minister and Minister Butler were asked to address the issue of the Trump Administration’s threatened 250 percent tariffs on pharmaceuticals and suggestions that the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) was subject to attack by US big pharma.
Minister Butler agreed with the PM that “to the extent that [the threatened tariffs] are motivated by big pharma companies seeking to lobby the US administration to water-down the protections of our PBS, it’s simply not up for negotiation under our Government”.
In an appearance with Minister Butler on Sunrise, Opposition Senator Jane Hume said the Coalition was on a unity ticket with the Government on the sanctity of the PBS, but reminded Butler that the Health Technology Assessment Review report delivered in May 2024, which included measures to expedite access to the PBS for new drugs, had not yet been actioned.
The last “action” on the review that I can locate was the announcement in November last year of “the members of the Health Technology Assessment Review Implementation Advisory Group … to help guide critical reforms in response to the findings and recommendations of the HTA Review Report”.
Hume called on Butler to “hustle your bustle”.
Or, as the Secretary of Butler’s Department would say, “even more doing, less reviewing”.
Aged Care Minister Sam Rae announced $20.5 million for a Regional, Rural and Remote Home Care Workforce Support Program to support services and initiatives for providers to attract, train and retain home care workers; and a further $10.3 million for the Aged Care Transition to Practice Program to also help increase nursing capability in regional, rural and remote locations.
Food Ministers met on 25 July (apologies for only reporting this now) with a busy agenda.
As well as accepting variations to the Food Standards Code (Code) to permit food to be served to customers when companion cats and dogs are present in aircraft cabins, Food Ministers considered the weightier issue of the relationship between food regulation and the National Obesity and National Preventive Health Strategies.
The communique says that “Ministers discussed future opportunities to support obesity prevention through food regulation, and agreed to a governance structure to guide implementation and reporting between the food regulation system and agencies involved in implementing these national strategies”.
The meeting was also provided with a consumer research report (to be published at www.healthstarrating.gov.au) “which found while most people were aware of the Health Star Rating system, many misunderstand how it works – particularly that it should only be used to compare similar products”.
“This highlights a need for more education,” the report said.
The interim Australian Centre for Disease Control said that Chief Medical Officer Professor Michael Kidd AO had declared syphilis a “Communicable Disease Incident of National Significance”.
The CMO said the declaration would “bring together national efforts to coordinate an enhanced national response”.
Syphilis case numbers have been rising in recent years, including cases of congenital syphilis leading to infant deaths.
The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) said the declaration was “a sobering reminder of the health inequities facing rural, remote, and First Nations communities”.
ACCRM said to help support Rural Generalists in delivering high-quality sexual health care, it has launched a new STI and HIV Care course “designed to give doctors the skills and confidence to conduct evidence-based STI and HIV consultations, assess risk, and manage follow-up care”.
Ahpra announced that the 2025 Medical Training Survey (MTS) had opened. The MTS is a longitudinal study that tracks the quality of medical training over time, and this will be its seventh year.
Ahpra said “trainees are accessing and analysing past MTS results to inform their choice of training sites and specialties”, and that “hospitals and employers are using the MTS data to identify hot-spots and drive positive changes in training”.
First Nations
The fifth National Day of Recognition for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Health Practitioners was marked on 7 August, with the theme, ‘Partnering for a Purpose’.
The day is dedicated to celebrating the strength, leadership and commitment of these community based and culturally grounded health professions (see more commentary in the latest ICYMI column).
The Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT) said it was disappointed by the NT Government’s response to the coronial inquest into the deaths of four Aboriginal women, which was tabled “without notice or meaningful consultation – particularly with Aboriginal organisations”.
AMSANT said the Coroner’s 35 recommendations offered a clear and achievable path forward to address a system that is particularly failing Aboriginal women.
However, the Government’s response “sought to diminish the work of the Coroner, while disregarding the lived experience of families and victims, the professional workforce, and particularly the expertise of Aboriginal specialists and community-led services who have been responding to domestic, family and sexual violence for decades”.
AMSANT urged the Government to “revisit its response” and work with First Nations groups “to deliver long-term, sustainable solutions and stop violence before it starts”.
Consumer and public health groups
Aged Care Minister Sam Rae attended a function organised by the Older Persons Advocacy Network to allow people receiving aged care to share their concerns about the new Act.
National Older Women’s Network President Beverly Baker said “without a national Human Rights Act, without the underpinning legislation, the [Aged Care] Act is just nice words”.
Home Care Package recipient Helen Walne said “the $140 cost of visiting a healthcare clinic [in rural Australia] has led me to cancel therapy treatment, resulting in hospital admissions due to diminished health”.
Participants raised a number of issues about the new model for in-home support.
Minister Rae stuck to the script, saying “our new Aged Care Act represents a significant step forward in transforming aged care to create a system that has older people and their rights and dignity at its core”.
La Trobe University Rural Health School said it had worked with Diabetes Feet Australia to develop the Australian Strategy for Foot Health and Disease in Diabetes 2030, “a nationwide plan to improve access to care, ensure safe and consistent treatment standards and boost research and development in diabetes-related foot health”.
The strategy, launched during National Diabetes Week in July, calls for:
- annual culturally responsive foot health screenings for all Australians with diabetes
- ensuring high-risk foot services are available in every region, especially in rural and remote communities
- an additional $30 million per year spending on research and a national research network to guide innovation and best practice.
Trade unions
Occupational Therapy Australia (OTA) issued a statement setting out what was wrong with the current Medicare chronic disease management allied health items, and arguing for a set of reforms including:
- increasing session limits to a minimum of ten sessions per year with an occupational therapist
- expanding session durations with appropriate increases to relevant rebates
- allowing patients to access up to ten group-based occupational therapy sessions annually
- Medicare rebates for CDM services delivered by an allied health assistant under the supervision of an occupational therapist
- allowing allied health practitioners to initiate case conferences to discuss client care with GP and other allied health practitioners
- increasing Medicare rebates to align with NDIS funding benchmarks.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) welcomed the announcement by WA Health Minister Meredith Hammat of an Enhanced Access Community Pharmacy Pilot to launch late next year and allow patients to receive treatment for common health conditions directly from their local pharmacist.
The Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) urged NSW residents to get a flu vaccination as case numbers continued to grow strongly through July. ACCRM and the Pharmacy Guild made similar calls.
Industry groups
The Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA) said the Australian Health Review has published a new collection on value-based health care (VBHC), Value-Driven: Redefining Care for a Healthier Nation, “exploring how Australia can lead global reform by putting people at the centre of healthcare delivery”.
AHHA CEO Tony Farley said the collection “shows Australia is reimagining healthcare, with sharper focus on outcomes that matter, smarter use of data, and a stronger drive for sustainable performance”.
Last week was Loneliness Awareness Week, and Croakey published an article by Leanne Wells and others arguing that loneliness is a public health issue.
Fortunately for Australians, the Pharmacy Guild is all over the issue.
The Guild issued a statement claiming that “community pharmacists have frequent interactions with patients which means they are well positioned to recognise patients at high risk of loneliness, offer a listening ear, educate them on the protective effects of social connection, refer patients to support services and create welcoming, inclusive environments”.
The Guild also released Towards 2035, its “ten-year roadmap to create healthier communities through community pharmacy”.
The plan has four “areas of focus”:
- advancing patient-directed care through pharmacy services and the unique cognitive practice of dispensing
- focusing on members as the core purpose of the Guild by delivering industry leading and innovative business practice solutions, advice, and engagement
- advancing, promoting and demonstrating the value and opportunity of community pharmacy to patients and Governments, as an essential component of Australia’s primary health infrastructure
- ensuring patients have equitable access to a network of local community pharmacies providing medicines, everyday health services and health consumables from a Pharmacist and Pharmacy Assistant.
Politicians and parliamentary committees
The Senate re-appointed the Select Committee on PFAS from the 47th Parliament to work in the 48th Parliament, but with a new reporting date of 19 November (rather than 5 August).
The Senate Community Affairs Committee is conducting an inquiry into the aged care patch-up legislation, with a report due on 21 August.
International organisations
The World Health Organization (WHO) joined with UNICEF in issuing a joint statement to mark World Breastfeeding Week.
The organisations said only 48 percent of infants under six months are exclusively breastfed, well below the World Health Assembly target of 60 percent by 2030, “due to the overlapping challenges for new mothers, health workers, and health systems”.
They said that “only a fifth of countries include infant and young child feeding training for the doctors and nurses who care for new mothers… [which] means the majority of the world’s mothers leave hospitals without proper guidance on how to breastfeed their babies and when to introduce complementary feeding”.
They called on governments to take a range of steps including:
- spending more on breastfeeding support services and programs
- integrating breastfeeding counselling and support into routine maternal and child health services
- including antenatal, delivery, and postnatal care
- protecting breastfeeding by ensuring that the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes is applied in all health facilities and systems.
Finally
It is amazing how much the effluxion of time can change perceptions.
I spent a lot of 2013 working on implementing the Child Dental Benefits Schedule (CDBS), and had many meetings with the ADA on the scope of the scheme and the associated administrative requirements.
I think it fair to say the ADA were not enthusiastic supporters. In one meeting a senior ADA figure told me the CDBS was “poor dentistry for poor people” and would not be adopted by the profession.
In its media release about Dental Health Week, the ADA is now referring to the “ADA-advocated CDBS”.
Apparently, the ADA was a supporter of the CDBS all the time. It could have fooled me.
Consultations and inquiries
Here is our weekly list of requests by government bodies and parliamentary committees for responses to consultations or submissions to inquiries, arranged in order of submission deadlines. Please let us know if there are any to add for next week’s column.
Therapeutic Goods Administration
Proposed amendments to the Poisons Standard in relation to [sunscreen ingredients] homosalate, oxybenzone and benzophenone
12 August
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Aged Care Data and Reporting Review
13 August
National Health and Medical Research Council
Public call for evidence for Dietary Guidelines evidence reviews
18 August
Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority
Consultation Paper on the Pricing Framework for Australian Residential Aged Care Services 2026–27
22 August
Senate Community Affairs Committee
Inquiry into Government’s decision to delay the commencement of the new Support at Home program until 1 November 2025 and not release any additional Home Care Packages until then
22 August
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Aged Care Sector Support and Development survey
1 September
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Review of the My Health Records Legislative Instruments
6 September
Food Standards Australia New Zealand
Food derived from purple tomato lines containing snapdragon genes
10 September
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Proposed new mandatory training manual for aged care volunteers
12 September
National Health and Medical Research Council
Research priorities in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health 2025
15 September
National Health and Medical Research Council
Draft Statement on Consumer and Community Involvement in Health and Medical Research
21 September
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (third edition) – Public Consultation
30 September
Attorney-General’s Department
Issues Paper on reforms to the Disability Discrimination Act
24 October
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Updating clinical guidelines for dementia care
31 December
Charles Maskell-Knight PSM was a senior public servant in the Commonwealth Department of Health for over 25 years before retiring in 2021. He worked as a senior adviser to the Aged Care Royal Commission in 2019-20. He is a member of Croakey Health Media; we thank and acknowledge him for providing this column as a probono service to our readers. Follow on X/Twitter at @CharlesAndrewMK, and on Bluesky at: @charlesmk.bsky.social.
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