GP concerns to be heard federally
AMA Queensland President Dr Maria Boulton will take firsthand experience of the pressures facing the state’s GPs to the General Practice Crisis Summit in Canberra.
“General practice is the cornerstone of our health system, but it has been under-funded and neglected for far too long,” Dr Boulton said.
“GPs help people stay well and stay out of hospital, but governments at all levels don’t seem to understand this.
“The COVID pandemic has put added pressures on our health system, but it is not the reason Medicare rebates have not increased in real terms for decades.
“Medicare rebates for patients to access GP services are woefully low and go nowhere near the cost of providing healthcare.
“GP practices and corporates continue to collapse under the financial strain, and fewer medical graduates are choosing general practice as their specialty.
“We need urgent reform to turn this around. We must ensure that all patients have access to GP care, regardless of their bank balance or their postcode.
“In Queensland, the state government is seeking to replace GPs with allied health professionals who lack the training to know that a woman presenting with urinary frequency is not a simple issue.
“The Queensland Government has made pharmacists prescribing and selling antibiotics for urinary tract infections (UTIs) a permanent part of the health system and is looking to extend this to 23 other conditions including diabetes, hypertension, respiratory diseases and ear infections.
“This is not a sustainable solution to the workforce shortages that already exist and will only get worse in the future through short-term, short-sighted, dangerous experiments like these.
“General practice has proven to be the bedrock of healthcare throughout the pandemic, delivering 31 million COVID vaccinations and 10.5 million flu vaccines by July this year while continuing to provide regular medical care to their patients.
“We do not need additional bureaucracy or hoops to jump through. We do not need the additional burden of caring for patients who have been harmed by dangerous experiments in non-medical prescribing.
“We care for our patients and community. It is time all levels of government care for Australians in the same way.”
The RACGP General Practice Crisis Summit will be held at Old Parliament House, Canberra, on Wednesday 5 October.
CONTACT: media@amaq.com.au 0419 735 641