Patients won’t cough up

FRUGAL Territorians unwilling to pay to see a GP are clogging up bulk-bill practices — putting pressure on the NT’s already strained hospital system, say health experts.

Australian Medical Association NT president Dr Rob Parker said people who could pay to see a family doctor, should pay — which would help free up appointments for people who could not afford it.

However, with the rising cost of GP appointments, Dr Parker said fewer and fewer Territorians could comfortably cough up.

“GPs have got to charge what they charge because they have to run a business,” he said. “It’s just too expensive for some patients to access GPs without bulk billing.”

Dr Parker said poorer patients who couldn’t book in with a bulk billing GP often went straight to the ED.

“ED is the cheap default,” he said. “People are going there with conditions they should be seeing a GP about.”

However, Dr Parker said other patients were just putting off seeing a doctor altogether.

“They put off GP visits, because they can’t afford that regular contact,” he said.

“People with a chronic disease need to see a GP regularly.”

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners President Dr Harry Nespolon agreed. “Darwin’s not the only place where this is happening, it’s a problem for ERs around Australia,” he said.

“If you can pop down to the hospital and be seen for nothing, you would do that.”

From a costing perspective, Dr Nespolon said it cost taxpayers about $39 for someone to see a GP — bulk-billed or not — but between $300 and $2000 for that same patient to visit the ER.

“One of the major issues is the way that hospitals are funded in Australia — we should be investing more in general practice,” he said.

The comments coincide with the release of Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s Use of emergency departments for lower urgency care: 2015—16 to 2017—18 report.

It found in the 2017-18 financial year, 56,206 people used Northern Territory ERs for “lower urgency care”.

“Some presentations to hospital emergency departments that are for lower urgency care may be avoidable through provision of other appropriate health services in the community,” the report said.