Health Policy

In New South Wales the health system is rolling out GP training to diagnose ADHD and initiate prescribing. Training starts in March and is funded by NSW Health. Nearly 600 GPs have already expressed i...

The Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program has lifted the national bulk-billing rate to 81.4% for the period November to January. In total, 3412 Medicare bulk-billing practices are registered, with 1...

In New South Wales the ADHD reform program moves into its second phase, expanding the role of GPs in diagnosis and treatment. NSW reports almost 600 GPs have signalled interest in training to become e...

Australia’s health department released bulk billing data covering November 2024 to January 2026. The national GP non-referred bulk billing rate averaged 81.4%, up 3.8 percentage points on the Septembe...

Senator Bridget McKenzie pressed the Department of Health and Aged Care over how aged care funding is prioritised for in home support. The debate centred on two 99 year olds in East Gippsland who face...

An interim review of a national pilot run by 12 Primary Health Networks evaluated a coordinated effort to boost GP engagement with family violence services. The program subsidised family violence trai...

Queensland will start offering intranasal flu vaccines to eligible children aged two to five from 1 March as part of the Nasal Spray Flu Immunisation Program. This marks Australia’s first needle-free...

The Pharmacy Guild was the largest health related donor to Australian political parties in 2024–25, spending $600,170. The money flowed ahead of the May federal election. Labor received most of the Gu...

From 2003 to 2022, ADHD medication use among Australian kids aged 5–17 rose dramatically. Prescriptions in the PBS system grew from about 20,100 users (0.5% of the youth population) to roughly 246,000...

The Queensland Health minister Tim Nicholls has ordered an independent Assurance Review into Toowoomba Hospital's maternity unit. The panel will include a clinician, a maternity consumer representativ...

Western Australia is expanding its general practice training with a record 251 registrars starting the Australian General Practice Training program. The cohort is 28.1% larger than last year’s 194 reg...

The 2025 National Registrar Survey shows the RACGP training program reaching historic highs in Australia. About 1225 registrars responded to the confidential survey, conducted for the Department of He...

The Australian Pharmacy Council is inviting feedback on the Accreditation Standards for Pharmacy Programs (2020). The move fits a five year cycle that aligns with the new Pharmacist Capability Framewo...

The Department of Veterans Affairs in Australia released detailed plans on how a substantial funding package will be spent to improve veterans’ health care. In the recent Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal...

More than 1,200 general practice and rural generalist registrars took part in the 2025 GP national registrar survey. The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing released the results, showing train...

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia SA and NT branch is driving a new Australian framework for the Palliative Care Pharmacist. Helen Stone, the SA/NT State and Territory Manager, has drawn on GP p...

Healthscope is weighing a move to become a not-for-profit charity to support its hospital network while its debt remains with the lenders. The total debt is about 1.6 billion dollars. Lenders include...

The NSW Parliament has ordered a formal inquiry into Calvary Mater Hospital in Newcastle. The private public partnership between NSW Health and Calvary Health is under scrutiny after two wards were fo...