GPs prescribe more funds to save sector
Far North GPs have presented a wishlist of measures to the federal government which they say are necessary to save a sector moving backwards.
The Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health Emma McBride met on Thursday with three long serving Far North GPs to discuss issues in an industry struggling with recruitment, retention and renumeration.
Dr Rod Catton from Innisfail Family Health said GPs were going backwards “because we cannot get doctors to come to the country”.
“Fifty per cent of doctors in rural areas are overseas and that pipeline has been largely cut off over the last few years.”
The rural doctors said they presented a list of 30 to 40 reccreased ommendations that they say would go a long way to turning around a sector in crisis.
Dr Lisa Fraser from Gordonvale Family Medical said more needed to be done to ensure practices were financially sustainable and greater effort made to lure young doctors from metropolitan areas.
“Improving the Medicare rebate for longer consultations is one measure that would begin to make a difference as well as improving the financial renumeration for rural doctors,” she said.
Dr Fraser added: “My waitlist is in the order of over a month, which means I work long hours and I have to manage everything very carefully.”
Other key measures raised by the doctors included inpayments and allowances for nurses and training GP staff, as well as payments to encourage co-location of allied health services within general practice clinics.
Dr Catton — who has been practising in Innisfail for 47 years — called for both a $10 increase per consultation to practices as well as $100,000 more per full time GP to match the public system to ensure practices remained sustainable as well as affordable for patients amid rising costs.
“We in private practice cannot match the salaries and conditions in public hospitals are offering and so the doctors do not want to come into private practice,” he said.
“We have no hope of competing and apart from that the Medicare funding that we get is absolutely unsustainable.
“Government must understand that they will bear the costs one way or the other, by increasing private practice funding, or by increasing public hospital funding.”
Ms McBride acknowledged the challenge in addressing the issues faced by rural GPs.
She confirmed only two in 10 graduates who expressed interest going into general practice work outside of the major metropolitan areas.
“This is something that will take time to turn around,” she said. “What the federal government did after the election was strengthen the Medicare task force to look at what is going to improve affordability and access.”
Kennedy MP Bob Katter said towns such as Julia Creek and Mission Beach were now being left without a local GP.