(Adopted October 2014, Updated July 2016, Updated January 2021; Updated November 2021; Updated May 2024)
Principles
The Queensland Greens believe that:
1. Healthcare should be free, universal, and publicly owned.
2. Health policy should be based on the best evidence available.
3. Preventative healthcare is the most effective way to improve health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.
4. Access to quality health care is a basic human right.
5. Individual health outcomes are influenced by the inter-relationship of biological, social, economic and environmental factors.
6. An effective health system must be based upon preventative and primary health care measures which are accessible and available to all.
7. The Government is responsible for ensuring that all people have free access to the resources and opportunities essential for good health, including across the regions.
8. A fully funded public health system is the most equitable and responsible way to resource and deliver health services.
9. An integrated approach across government departments, private sector health, and other services is required to improve health outcomes in the community, especially in the priority areas of indigenous health, child health, maternal health, and disability, including chronic illness and mental health.
10. The interconnectivity between health, mental health and disability cannot be severed, and must be addressed holistically.
11. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should have health outcomes and life expectancy equal to other Queenslanders.
12. Health service participation in appropriate research and audit is an important component of providing effective services.
13. Health funding models should ensure that health service capacity and capabilities are developed in line with population growth, demographic changes, and emerging trends within communities related to chronic illness.
14. An effective health care system is dependent upon a skilled, competent and well-resourced workforce and must include properly assessed and regularly updated training and registration.
15. People have a right to participate in the planning and implementation of their health care.
16. Ensure Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) laws contain safeguards to protect disabled people from coercion, force, and exploitation.
17. People with severe and incurable disease should have access to a respectful and safeguarded process that allows them to choose to die with dignity.
18. People should be able to exercise their reproductive rights free from discrimination or coercion.
19. All Queensland health services must operate sustainably.
Aims
The Queensland Greens will:
Equitable health care access
1. Ensure that all Queensland communities have appropriate access to generalist health care, through:
1.1. Increased funding for community health centres in rural and remote areas.
1.2. The expansion of telemedicine services through the provision of telemedicine hardware to areas of need and increased Medicare rebates for telemedicine consults.
2. Reduce the pressure on hospitals and ambulance services by:
2.1. Funding translational research into optimising and reducing inequities in health care service delivery.
2.2. Modernising the Medicare Benefits Schedule and introducing innovative models of care to support sustainable primary health care services.
2.3. Funding urgent care clinics and telehealth clinics attached to all public hospitals.
2.4. Funding community health centres in areas of need.
2.5. Increasing publicly funded home and community care options.
2.6. Introducing an integrated approach to state-wide hospital bed occupancy and patient flow.
2.7. Funding a sustainable increase in hospital staffing to increase inpatient bed capacity.
2.8. Establishing best-practice early discharge planning frameworks.
2.9. Prioritising and funding paramedic training and retention.
3. Increase the number, funding, and support of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Health Services and Indigenous health workers.
4. Abolishing parking fees for patients, staff, and visitors at public hospitals.
5. Improved patient-rights support and advocacy through development of independent mechanisms for complaint, appeal, and redress.
6. Ensure that Medicare-funded dentistry is fully incorporated into the public health system.
7. Improve health outcomes in rural and remote Queenslanders by sustainably growing the Rural Generalist workforce, and prioritising health funding in rural, remote and Indigenous communities.
Preventative health care
8. Fund an integrated approach across government departments focusing on illness prevention, chronic disease management, and reducing morbidity and mortality.
9. Provide consistent and coordinated investment in health promotion and prevention activities.
10. Improve accessibility to sexually transmitted infection prevention and management through the permanent funding of confidential and free sexual health clinics in all regions of Queensland.
11. Ensure that all vaccinations are free for all vaccine-preventable illnesses.
12. Fund a free season of active sport and recreation annually for all school age children.
Caring for all stages of life
13. Improve the NDIS support for all disabled people, including younger people, to reduce and prevent them from being housed in residential aged care facilities.
14. Expand the NDIS eligibility requirements.
15. Expand access to goods and services within NDIS funding.
16. Ensure that NDIS, DVA, and other systems address health, mental health, and disability holistically.
17. Improve support and recognition of Carers by increasing services for carers and patients, particularly in rural and remote areas.
18. Provide a sustainable increase in funding to improve the coverage of rural maternity services.
19. Ensure that all-risk continuity-of-care midwifery models are the prevailing model of collaborative care for all pregnant people in Queensland, and ensure that this is accessible in a variety of settings, such as at home, within community health facilities, and hospitals.
Integrated health care systems
20. Improve the integration of health data systems to ensure efficient delivery of health services.
21. Design a universal patient-controlled e-health record to improve information sharing and management.
22. Improve electronic prescription availability by providing technological support for doctors, hospitals and pharmacies.
23. Improve medication availability by funding state-owned drug manufacturing facilities.
Workforce planning and support
24. Promote an increase in the number of health professionals in Queensland by supporting education and training programs, and incentivising universities fees.
25. Improve incentive, structural support, education and training opportunities to enable health professionals to continue employment in Queensland health services, particularly in under-staffed clinical or geographical areas.
26. Improve the accessibility of training to increase scope of practice for nurses and midwives by providing support and funding.
27. Implement accreditation standards and professional registration for complementary practitioners.
28. Undertake research into health workforce planning, avoidance of burnout, and how to effectively improve surge capacity.
29. Fund training in trauma-informed, trans inclusive and culturally appropriate care for all health professionals.
30. Fully fund paramedicine, ambulance, and emergency services in all areas, particularly rural and regional, with staff training and retention prioritised.
31. Ensure that data on Voluntary Assisted Dying is collected by the state and publicly reported, including medical misconduct and instances where individuals are coerced or forced into VAD by family, medical practitioners, or others.