In Conversation with Australia's Chief Medical Officer, Professor Michael Kidd AO

Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Michael Kidd AO, has been in his role for just two months and is already waist-deep in plans to improve the nation’s health. Hospital + Healthcare speaks with him to learn more.

The task is not straightforward, with an aging population, dwindling healthcare workforce and growing body of online health disinformation all conspiring against him.

As the proportion of Australians aged over 60 grows, conditions like dementia, heart disease and cancer — the latter of which affects nearly half of people by their 85th year — are expected to become more common. Along with them, the heat-induced and vector-borne illnesses that result from global warming.

And with vaccine hesitancy being fuelled online, there are fears conditions like measles could soon become widespread and see younger generations adding to the disease burden.

But, while Kidd acknowledges the challenges in front of him, he remains optimistic.

As the first GP to be appointed national CMO, Kidd — a former RACGP president — is well-placed to support primary care, and is already involved in a range of reforms to this end.

Supporting the primary care workforce

“We are supporting primary healthcare professionals, through a range of incentives,” he said.

“Significant new investments from government to expand bulk billing are in place and will expand from 1 November under the new bulk billing practice incentive program.

“We expect that with additional and continued incentives it will become easier for all people to visit their GP.”

Junior doctors are also being incentivised to enter general practice, with more Commonwealth-supported university medical places, GP training opportunities, and pay and leave incentives.

There will be scholarships to support nurses and midwives training in primary care, and continued incentives for practitioners to work in underserved areas.

For those already in primary care, flexible working arrangements and opportunities to support workers to fulfil their scope of practice will help improve quality of life.

“This will partly be achieved through our focus on multidisciplinary team models of care, which we know are effective in managing chronic conditions,” Kidd said.

“Through continued investment in the technologies that support integrated health care, it will become easier for GPs to coordinate with allied health, for example, and help individuals with complex comorbidities.”

A focus on wellness

However, it is not just disease management that will take up space in Kidd’s portfolio.

As the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing expands its remit to include disability, Kidd says there will be an increased emphasis on wellness and prevention, and better integration across the care sectors.

“Take aging. For me, this isn’t just about home-based or residential aged care programs. It’s an opportunity to focus on healthy aging to support people to be as well as possible, for as long as possible,” he said.

Equity will feature in this prevention work, too, with Kidd focused on ensuring health research encompasses the needs of diverse population groups.

“We need to make sure that we are investing in research areas which reflect everyone in the population, so that we’re not leaving anyone behind.

“This builds on a strong push over recent years to invest in supporting improvements in the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; and particularly work with affected communities to make sure that research agendas are meeting the needs of communities and populations.”

Women’s health will also be prioritised, with female-specific and female-dominated health issues given further research investment.

“We will see continued investment in previously under-explored research areas and addressing gender bias in diagnostics and intervention,” Kidd said.

“That includes conditions that are more common in women, as well as conditions like endometriosis.”

Embracing innovation

While the Department’s goals may seem lofty, Kidd believes innovation could help drive exponential progress.

He is particularly excited about advances in genomics and their role in predicting health issues.

“We have been sitting on the cusp of a genomics revolution in clinical medicine for the last two decades — ever since the human genome project came to a conclusion,” he said.

“But what we haven’t seen is that translate into clinical practice. And I suspect over the coming decade or so we’re going to see that start to occur.”

At present, much of the work on genetics in clinical medicine is around single genes and their related conditions.

Soon, researchers will be able to examine a person’s entire genome and make more complex predictions, Kidd said.

“We are nearing the point where a person’s genome could be sequenced and become part of their health record, with that data then being utilised to help make decisions around health care, which is more personalised, precise and predictive,” he said.

A positive outlook

While the challenges facing Australia’s health system may be formidable, Kidd’s forward-looking response puts the Department in good stead to tackle them.

By embracing prevention, innovation and equity, Australia’s health system is set to uphold its reputation as one of the strongest, globally.

*Amy Sarcevic is a freelance science and technical writer who regularly writes for Hospital + Healthcare. She has an academic background in psychology.