Hope for improved doctor access
AGrampians Health leader is hopeful a Federal Government review of Medicare will improve a maldistribution of general practitioners to shorten patient waiting times.
Grampians Health chief executive Dale Fraser said it was no secret there was an uneven distribution of GPS across Australia.
“This typically affects rural areas,” he said.
“Stawell is just one town that has GP shortages. There are not as many GPS as the population would like and therefore people have to wait.
“There are lots of conversations between politicians in Canberra now about Medicare, and I’m sure part of the conversation there is how to create an environment where rural and regional Australians have access to GPS through Medicare incentives.
“Hopefully, if the settings are right, those incentives would create an opportunity for existing GPS to be motivated to work in regional Australia to practise their clinical skill.”
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said Australian primary health was in the ‘worst’ shape since Medicare began in 1984.
“We know that it has never been harder to see a GP – especially in rural and regional Australia,” he said.
“The former government froze the Medicare rebate for six years, ripping billions of dollars out of primary care and causing gap fees to skyrocket.
“We said at the election there was no higher priority for Labor in the health portfolio than strengthening Medicare and rebuilding general practice.
“The constant advice we have received across the country is that after nine years of cuts and neglect to Medicare, it has never been harder to see a doctor, and never more expensive, with bulk billing rates in decline, and gap fees constantly going up.”
The Federal Government released a Strengthening Medicare Taskforce report last month.
The taskforce found bulk-billing rates were declining, with 14 percent of medical graduates choosing to work in general practice, dropping from 50 percent.
The report’s recommendations focus on patient-centred care and expanding multi-disciplinary care to manage the health of an older population with more complex and chronic diseases.
Recommendations also included new blended funding models, integrated with an existing fee-for-service model, allowing teams of GPS, nurses, midwives and allied health professionals to work together to deliver the care people need.
The report also recommended a greater role for primary health networks, including commissioning nursing and allied health services to bolster general practice teams in rural and regional Australia.
Mr Butler said the government was committed to investing in general practice and strengthening Medicare.
“Health workforce was a focused part of our Strengthening Medicare Taskforce discussion and an item of discussion at National Cabinet,” he said.
Mr Butler said the government would invest more than $160-million to attract and retain more health workers in rural and regional Australia through training and incentive programs and supporting innovative models of multi-disciplinary care. Mr Fraser said in the meantime, Grampians Health would continue to try to recruit more GPS.
“We have some temporary GPS to support permanent staff at the moment,” he said.
“We’re looking to put some other non-gp services in Stawell, such as physiotherapy and practise nurses.
“Not all needs are best serviced by a GP – someone might have a diabetes issue and would be better speaking to a dietician, for example.
“We want to allow the GPS we have time to focus on specifically what a GP should be focusing on.
“We’re hopeful the work that’s being undergone with the Medicare system will result in an outcome that meets the needs of rural and regional GPS and renumerates them appropriately.”