New Primary Healthcare Organisations: Recognising Opportunities to Transition to Transformative Healthcare Organisations?

Abstract

Like many governments across the globe, the Australian Government has embarked on major healthcare reforms. Part of this reform agenda included the establishment of sixty-two primary healthcare organisations (PHOs) originally called Medicare Locals (MLs), currently to be re-structured as primary healthcare networks. Primary health organisations were tasked with the coordination of primary health care delivery and with tackling local healthcare needs and service gaps. They were to drive improvements in primary healthcare and ensure that services are better tailored and integrated to meet the needs of local communities. This article puts forward the argument that new primary healthcare organisations have the potential and the ethical aspects of healthcare organisations are largely overlooked in the literature. To address this gap we outline two complementary frameworks: a theory of ethical communities and an emancipatory method. We conclude that these frameworks could be used as potential guides for new healthcare organisations to become transformative organisations.