The QCU welcomes the announcement that Queensland’s highly skilled nurses and midwives will be amongst the first in Australia able to prescribe the abortion pill.
It is pleasing that the Queensland government has listened to key stakeholders including the QNMU, Children by Choice, Health Consumers Queensland and associations representing GPs and specialists in relation to the issues impacting the provision of termination services in Queensland.
It is unacceptable that pregnant people in our state trying to access terminations are forced to carry to full term because of delays and lack of available services.
This is occurring even in the southeast of the state.
A postcode lottery is not acceptable for any healthcare measure.
We continue to work with the state government to address the myriad of issues impacting access to services including workforce shortages, streamlining access to information about services and funding models for GPs and providers.
The health minister’s announcement and decision follow the Senate inquiry into universal access to reproductive healthcare.
Queensland’s nurses and midwives are a highly trained medical workforce that is already working in communities across the state making a real difference every day and dealing with the healthcare fallout of pregnant people currently not having access to safe services.
This is a great step forward.
