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Protocols will never replace a doctor

Chair of the AMA Council of General Practice, Dr Brian Morton, in this week’s issue of Australian Medicine, discusses the shortcomings of telephone health advice helplines. He writes that a computer-generated protocol will never be a substitute for a face-to-face consultation with a doctor and that we would have less need for these helplines if GP after hour consultations were better supported by the Government.

He also writes that the AMA will continue to press for the re-instatement of the Department of Health’s After Hours Primary Care Technical Working Group, of which the AMA was a member, to address ongoing concerns with after hours care in this country.