Result

The Australian healthcare system, including the Primary Health Care System (PHC), is structured in a policy model, with shared responsibility for funding and providing services on any level of government. The state or regional government is primarily responsible for primary health care. The Australian healthcare sector is widely regarded in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development sense as one of the best (Briggs, 2017).

Several public and private providers such as general practitioners, community nurses, allied healthcare professionals, mental health professionals, social workers, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait popular health professionals operate in a range of locations providing primary care services. The first point of contact with the health system is in an appropriate setting primary care for a given illness, but the shift in the use of the hospital emergency department, for this reason, was troubling (Willis, Reynolds, &  Keleher, 2012; Dixit & Sambasivan, 2018). 

The primary health expenditure in 2014-2015 was $56 billion, nearly equal to the $62 billion spent on hospital care. This level of spending which suggests the need for the same degree of primary health care policy funding as hospitals have historically been. Primary health care is a paradigm of community-based provision of health services and the theory of equality and justice in terms of access to reliable, safe, and effective health care. Primary health care is as important for Australia as it is for any nation with low or middle incomes. Australia provides a broad variety of primary health care programs including community health programs, Aboriginal medical services, women's health services, psychological and youth health services (Australia Institute of Health and Welfare, 2016).

The past of Primary health care has been inconsistent, sometimes with inadequate funding for general practices. These concerns resulted in 110 defined geographic regions being formed by the 'Divisions of General Practice.' Subsequently, these divisions were converted into a smaller number of 61 geographically larger organizations called Medicare Locals had a wider reach and had mixed support functions for public health planning. They were more regulated, like General practitioners, other Primary health care clinicians, and 112 community members. Some of the shortest living features of the Australian healthcare cases, which lasted four years after 2011, when Medicare Locals were changing the government was identified as Medicare Locals not surviving. A subsequent study indicated that general practitioners were not sufficiently endorsed and the intent was uncertain. Research in one Australian state nevertheless showed that Medicare Locals were effective in recognizing local needs and establishing strong ties with a variety of partners and medical professionals, in specific general practitioners and health workers associated with them (Briggs, 2017; Horvart, 2014; Javanparast, et al., 2015).

In a study by Dixit & Sambasivan (2018) which deeply shares insights on the key issues and problem, there are selected health system performance indicators where it states that only 10% of the Adult Aussies had to wait for the elective surgeries and about 21% patients reported that there was a coordination issue in the 2 years previously, there were only a few indicators to performance, they also reported that the number of curative care beds was 3.36 to every 1000 people in the year 2013. They also studied that there is a long list for the hospitals, simply put, waiting lists reflect patients who have to wait for medication as recommended by a doctor because of space constraints. In a government-funded healthcare system, waiting queues have a variety of consequences: (a) lengthy waiting lines pose a political headache for policymakers due to the lack of visibility, (b) many people are discouraged from waiting for service at private hospitals, (c) waiting lists are difficult to manage and (d) waiting lists may lead to a lack of use of availableness (Christiansen & Bech, 2013). The number of unique admissions within 28 days of a patient's discharge, divided by the associated cumulative number of separations, is the figure for identified unplanned hospital readmission levels attributable to a postoperative complication. The cost for public hospital separation reported that the average cost per admitted acute weighted separation is 5025 AUD for the year 2014-2015 (Dixit & Sambasivan, 2018).  Whereas, in a study by Runciman et al., 2012 which assessed the appropriateness of the health care delivery concluded that while areas of quality and some facets of treatment have been well handled by health providers, there will be continuous progress in the provision of critical patient services and a solution to healthcare disparities. Wide consensus on quality practices is required and the patient records need to be more organized to promote more efficient treatment. The National Primary Health Care strategic framework defined their challenges as getting a stable, integrated primary health care system at its heart is one of the best ways of maintaining a healthy, efficient health system. Readjusting the health system to primary health care would require approaches that help to address some of the difficulties implicit in the Australian health care system, such as fragmentation resulting from the difference between the Commonwealth and state-funded systems, inconsistency in procurement, governance and monitoring arrangements, inadequate coordination of service planning and delivery within the sector (Oliver, 2013; Standing Council on Health, 2013).

Findings

The Australia's health sector faces major problems due to the rising stress of chronic illness, an aging population, stresses on the workers, and unsustainable health result inequities and access to services. It noted that, as much as their clinical needs and conditions, the primary health care services they receive and the quality of treatment that results have relied on where they live, their actual condition and the service providers involved for many people. From a patient viewpoint, there are reports that people tend to be cared for in their own homes and neighbourhoods and that calls for an emphasis on high-quality comprehensive care that makes the diagnosis of patients in the group safer for primary health professionals and scientifically trained experts. There is well-established evidence of considerably lower health outcomes for different Australian groups, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, rural and marginal communities, those that are less off-limits, and others with extra or unique health requirements.

Discussion

Australia has a large health network, but there is also room for greater equity, increased services for all; decreased health outcomes variation provided social determinants; changing emphasis from diagnosis to prevention and continually improving the standard of care. The primary health sector for Australia faces significant challenges, including increased costs led by an increasing prevalence of medical diseases, an aging population, unequal access to care and workers and capacity shortages. The shift of patient preferences also points to a desire for more customized, interactive, streamlined and efficient service. Whilst these developments are recognized, suppliers, payers, and larger market actors remain at differing stages of sophistication to respond to the shift — undermining their willingness to improve the framework (Dixit & Sambasivan, 2018). To focus on the future 7 focus areas are identified firstly Public participation and engagement to expand access to knowledge to educate health customers and enhance transparency and to plan and enforce customer confidence-building measures. Secondly, the focus is on keeping people healthy by increase health literacy and changing sentiments for the community through several initiatives. Thirdly, the right time and place matters from the perspective of the community by connecting more communities especially remote ones, setting a standard for the health ecosystem the focus should also be on improving the accessibility and affordability of services in the vicinity of the home. The fourth focus area is increasing innovation, digital, and analytics for the whole system. The fifth focus area is to create a strategic plan for the workforce through collaborations and different pathways. The sixth focus area is to define an outline for outcome-based funding and identify all the sources for possible funding. The last focus area is a pure collaboration with other associated or non-associated industries ("Health Matters", 2020).

Limitation and Conclusion

To conclude this study, restructuring, and reforms for primary health care in Australia are to be done to overcome the current challenges. This study was limited to 10 years, where further studies and wider inclusion can increase the scope of the study, further sub-topics can be studied for a more in-depth analysis of primary health care.

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