AMA welcomes Minister's rethink on GP numbers
AMA President, Dr Kerryn Phelps, said today she welcomed the admission by Health Minister, Dr Wooldridge - as reported in The Sydney Morning Herald - that there is a shortage of GPs in Australia, particularly in rural and outer-suburban areas.
Dr Phelps said Dr Wooldridge had in the past used the GP oversupply argument to restrict provider numbers to Australian-trained junior doctors, instead giving the numbers to visiting doctors or overseas-trained doctors.
"There are still many areas of great need, particularly in the outer suburbs of our cities and in our country towns, where there are simply not enough doctors to serve large numbers of poor and disadvantaged people," Dr Phelps said.
"But Dr Wooldridge's reported proposal to offer cash bonuses is not the way to get doctors to practice in these areas for the long term. I will save my final judgement until I see the full detail of the Minister's plans, but what has been reported is not the answer.
"A more sophisticated solution - addressing the working conditions and lifestyle needs of GPs and their families, and increasing the level of the Medicare rebate in line with the recommendations of the Relative Value Study (RVS) - is required.
"At the moment, GPs working in disadvantaged areas are subsidising Medicare.
"Doctors practising in areas of great need are finding it more difficult to continue bulk billing
their patients, and this will inevitably lead to larger gap payments by patients.
"If the Medicare rebate was increased to an adequate level, GPs would be more secure in being able to maintain their practices and more would find it possible to establish practices in areas of need for the long term.
"GPs don't want one-off cash incentives and they don't want a Government salary - they want an appropriate income for providing specialist medical services. They want to be able to afford to continue doing a job they love - serving their local communities wherever they may be."
Dr Phelps said now that there is agreement that there is a shortage of GPs in Australia, it is worth pursuing trial programs to attract doctors to areas of need - and the medical profession must be consulted to ensure the trials are properly conceived and implemented.
"Such trials would require cooperation between the Government and the medical profession and careful consideration of the long-term remuneration and working conditions of doctors, including support services, not simply a 'cash bonus' scheme for the short term," Dr Phelps said.
CONTACT: John Flannery (02) 6270 5477 / (0419) 494 761
Sarah Crichton (02) 6270 5472 / (0419) 440 076