From Insight to Action: Embedding Social Prescribing and Person-Centred Care in Australia’s Health System
by ASLM President Dr Hung The Nguyen
Every year ASLM gets invited to lifestyle medicine conference in other jurisdictions. At the BSLM Conference this year I tried to relay what matters to clients, patients or health consumers when it comes to lifestyle medicine.
The Patient Reported Indicator Survey (or PaRIS) presented observation of 19 OECD countries. PaRIS surveyed patients aged 45 years and older who had a primary care consultation in the last 6 months. The survey focused on patients living with chronic conditions, to assess whether the primary healthcare system was meeting their needs in ways that mattered most to them.
Unlike population-based health surveys, PaRIS was not designed to estimate prevalence or incidence rates of chronic conditions in the population. The data reflect patient-reported information about their health. 64% of patient surveyed had a chronic condition. The top 5 chronic conditions in the Australia cohort – high BP, back and joint pain, mood disorders and other mental health conditions, breathing conditions, cardiovascular conditions.
In Australia, people living with chronic conditions were more likely than most OECD countries to have good experiences of coordination of care (74%), person-centred care (94%) and quality of care (94%). Two-thirds of patients with chronic conditions provided positive ratings for trust in the healthcare system (61%) and confidence to manage their own health and wellbeing (64%), in line with the OECD average, highlighting these as areas for improvement.
PaRIS asked patients about their health outcomes in 5 areas – physical health, mental health, social functioning, wellbeing, and general health. More than two-thirds of patients with chronic conditions recorded positive outcomes in each area. Australia ranked well for physical health and general health but close to the OECD average for mental health, social functioning and wellbeing, indicating there is room for improvement in these areas.
For the first time, Australians when surveyed about their New Year resolution, nominated the focus on living a healthier lifestyle over financial, relationship and travel considerations. Almost 50% in one survey and 54% in another, prioritised their health.
People are looking for healthcare and health professionals that prioritise their needs for preventive care and lifestyle medicine approach to mental wellbeing and chronic disease management. They value longer appointments, discussions beyond the medicines and long-term outcomes.
In 2025 there has been a lot of work strategically to promote social prescribing, advocate for policy to embed social prescribing in health systems in Australia. Many GPs across Australia are embracing social prescribing because it delivers positive health outcomes and helps people improve self-care. There has been intense advocacy for social prescribing in disadvantage communities like rural and remote communities. Communities like the Māori, Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander communities have always had social prescribing even though they never called it as such. The mainstream health care sector could learn much from whanua-centred care and First Nations Community controlled health sector in NZ and Australia.
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (n.d.). Patient-Reported Indicator Surveys (PaRIS). https://www.oecd.org/en/about/programmes/patient-reported-indicator-surveys-paris.html
- YouGov (2024) 2025 New Year’s resolutions: Health, wealth, and family time top global priorities. https://business.yougov.com/content/51276-2025-new-year-resolutions-health-wealth-and-family-time-top-global-priorities
- YouGov Surveys (2024) Methodology note. Surveys conducted online among adults aged 18+ years in 17 markets (sample sizes: 501–2011).
- Compare the Market (2024) Australia’s top New Year’s resolutions for 2025. https://www.comparethemarket.com.au/news/australia-top-new-years-resolutions-2025/
- Health Hunter (n.d.) Health Hunter Australia. https://www.healthhunter.au
Hung Nguyen
Hung The Nguyen has a long term commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and cultural competency training and education. Medical and cultural education is his number one passion as it allows him to make a greater impact on people's lives through education and training. He has worked extensively as a GP and Medical and Cultural Educator in urban and rural and remote Aboriginal community health service throughout the Northern Territory and Victoria. He currently works as a GP at Bunurong Health Service in Dandenong. He was the Inaugural Censor for RACGP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health for 9 years and Director of Medical and Cultural Education for NTGPE for 5 years where he oversaw GP education for the Territory. Hung sits on a number of Primary Care and Health Education boards (Health Education Australia Limited, Therapeutic Guidelines, South Eastern Melbourne PHN) and Councils (AMA Victoria, Executive Committee for the Victorian Clinical Council, Safer Care Victoria and Chair SEMPHN Clinical Council). Through his appointments, he is concerned with positive patient journeys through the health system and patient engagement in the quality improvement process in health care.