From Cuba to the UK: insights from primary care models around the globe

Primary healthcare networks will likely benefit by thinking outside the box to consider less traditional approaches to problems that persist despite best efforts, experts in the field have said.

Dr Petra Bywood and Dr Katrina Erny-Albrecht, both from Flinders University, recently penned an article on the topic in This Week in PHC, an online newsletter produced by the Flinders-based Primary Health Care Research and Information Service.

The researchers highlighted examples of innovative and successful international models for primary care, including Cuba’s model, with services provided through polyclinics, annual home visits for everyone, and additional visits for those with higher needs, and the Alaskan Nuka System of Care, which has demonstrated very high levels of satisfaction among customer-owners and employees.

Nursing Review sat down with Bywood to discuss the Cuban and Alaskan models, as well as those from the UK and the Netherlands, and what insights Australian primary healthcare networks could gather by looking abroad.

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