Letting the workforce off the leash

A push to open medical practice to allied health reminds us of something.

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Labor has unveiled its nationwide “Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce” poster campaign, pre-empting only slightly the conclusion of the Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce Review announced last month.

“For far too long,” a Labor insider told The Medical Republic, “patients have put their faith in highly trained doctors, while nurses, physios and the humble community pharmacist have been sidelined.

“It’s high time our heroic allied health professionals were given a chance to flex their collective muscle and show us what they can really do.”

Labor’s Soviet-style posters will be displayed on all public buildings throughout Australia.

Poster expert Professor Candid told TMR:“The posters lionise allied health professionals, showing busty nurses flexing biceps, chisel-jawed pharmacists rolling up their sleeves and heroic physiotherapists carrying their patients into a glorious future.

“The message is loud and clear: if you’re not feeling well you don’t need to see a doctor.

“But not only is this message downright dangerous: it’s also been done before. When the Soviets discredited and dismantled their medical profession they soon discovered that nurses and feldshers couldn’t pick up the slack.

“It’s all very well telling everyone that medicine can be delivered safely and effectively by non-doctors, but statues and ideas make poor health practitioners.”

“We can make anyone a hero as long as it saves money,” a Labor spokesperson replied. “And nothing saves money quite like a baseless ideology and a giant publicly funded poster.”