Winter is coming: colleges warm to preparedness plan

The government will stump up $2.1 billion to protect Australians against the twin threats of covid and a resurgent influenza.

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The federal government has announced a $2.1 billion package to combat covid and flu, the latter being tipped to make a big comeback this winter after a two-year break.  

Both the RACGP and ACRRM say the approach and allocation of funding is largely on the money. 

The package, announced by Health Minister Greg Hunt on Friday, includes: 

• $1.2 billion to protect the residential aged and disability care sectors; 
• $356 million to protect other vulnerable population groups; and 
• $571?million for vaccines. 

“This funding will continue to support the National Coronavirus Helpline and Healthdirect support for triage and management of covid-19 patients and maintain the network of general practice respiratory clinics,” Mr Hunt said. 

“It will also maintain community care pathways coordinated across Primary Health Networks and Local Hospital Networks by providing personal protective equipment (PPE) and other supports to general practices managing respiratory patients.” 

While welcoming the government’s approach, the RACGP warned that more needed to be done on covid vaccination coverage and access to vaccines. 

“The vaccine rollout has at times failed some groups at higher risk of severe covid-19, including older people in aged care, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and people with disability,” RACGP president Dr Karen Price told The Medical Republic. “So it’s positive news that the government is prioritising people in residential aged-care and disability-care sectors as well as other vulnerable patient groups. 

“We have warned that vaccination coverage must improve in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, particularly in remote Northern Territory communities where coverage is significantly lower than the national average.” 

Dr Price said the college was concerned by reports that people with disability had had difficulties accessing covid vaccines.  

“Health authorities must do much more to protect a group that are at higher risk if they contract covid-19 but who have difficulty arranging vaccination appointments themselves,” she said. “For this reason, the RACGP has advocated for GPs to receive more support to help reach people with disability in residential and group homes.”  

ACRRM president Dr Sarah Chalmers said the funding package would support efforts to meet the covid-flu double whammy. 

“I’m actually really happy that they are forward thinking about our potential influenza season,” Dr Chalmers told TMR, “because obviously, there’s fairly significant concern around whether we’re going to get another nasty variant of covid-19 and how that’s going to intersect with the flu season. 

“We know that when we have a bad flu season, that has a significant impact on the health sector, on the primary care sector, because people want to come to see their GP. We’re the first port of call when people get their early influenza symptoms – but also we want to be able to be proactive, to vaccinate them.”  

As part of the winter preparedness package, the government proposes to extend the concessional RAT program until 31 July 2022 and will purchase six months’ supply of PPE for aged-care and disability usage. 

More than 9.5 million government influenza doses will be available for the 2022 season, the statement said, and more than 600,000 pneumococcal vaccine doses.  

“Come winter, we will once again roll up our sleeves to deliver influenza vaccinations – all while continuing to deliver covid-19 vaccines – and it’s vital the government has our back,” Dr Price said. 

“Many practices are struggling to absorb the cost of participating in the covid-19 vaccine rollout and with plenty of children’s doses and booster doses to come, the job is far from over.”