GPs Must Supervise Any 24-hour Medical Hotline
Patient safety may be at risk if GPs are not playing a central role in any 24-hour medical hotline, according to AMA Federal President, Dr Kerryn Phelps.
Dr Phelps said the AMA supported the ALP's broad plans to expand after hours services for patients - provided they included proper medical supervision.
"We have seen this scenario played out in the US - where nurses running 24-hour call centres are giving dramatically different advice to the same inquiries from patients and are following different procedures in determining how to respond to inquiries over the telephone," Dr Phelps said.
"Standards of medical care must not be jeopardised and accountability and liability must be made very clear in any call centre concept."
"Labor has stated categorically in the past that any hotline or after hours care centre staffed by nurses would be supervised by GPs. We are calling on Mr Beazley to re-state this commitment," she said.
Dr Phelps said after hours emergency work was less attractive now for GPs because of the risks to their personal safety and the 'ridiculously low' patient rebates for after hours services.
"For too long we have watched emergency department waiting times increase, while the Commonwealth has made after-hours services unviable for GPs," she said.
"If Mr Beazley can work out a way to get the states and the Commonwealth to work together to set up appropriate after hours care then we would certainly welcome that."
Dr Phelps said the AMA had recently endorsed a discussion paper "Out of Hours Primary Medical Care" outlining proposed models of after hours care involving GPs and emergency physicians.