The federal government has announced a plan to get more general practitioners into the primary care system.
It comes as Australians increasingly struggle to find GPs, especially those willing to bulk-bill.
Health Minister Mark Butler said the number of medical students aiming to become GPs was on an “inexorable slide”.
“Perhaps the most terrifying statistic in the area of primary care is that now less than 14 per cent of medical graduates are choosing general practice as their career,” Butler said.
“It’s not too long ago … that about half of medical graduates chose to be a general practitioner.”
Butler said a shortage of GPs means a lot of patients who don’t need hospital treatment end up in emergency rooms.
“We know that about half of all emergency department presentations right now are classified as semi-urgent or non-urgent – about 4 million every year,” he said.
“And many could and probably should be dealt with outside of hospital settings.”
“The emergency department ends up effectively as the lightning rod for every failing elsewhere in the health system.
“If you can’t get care in an aged care facility or in a general practice, too often you end up in an emergency department.”
Butler touted the release of the report of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce today.
But his announcement was short of funding commitments.
“We will respond to this report in the budget,” he said.
“We might not accept every single recommendation right now, but this is a really good set of recommendations.”
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He said the $750 million pledged in the election was always intended for July.
But he said MyHealthRecord will get more money after its current funding arrangement ends in June.
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“If we’re not able to find new money to continue the My Health Record, you’ll have to dust off your fax machines, because the whole of the e-health system in Australia will fall over,” he said.
“This is just one of hundreds of measures that we’ve talked about that were only part-funded by the former government.”
But the prospect of getting more doctors into primary care was not a quick fix.
“I know this is not a single-budget challenge,” Butler said.
“I know there will be more to do.”
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Asked about an increase in the Medicare rebate, Butler said he was not ruling anything out.
In a follow-up question, Butler was asked if a rise in the Medicare levy was on the table, he said no.
He expressed openness to the idea of pharmacists being authorised to give prescriptions, but said that decision was not in the hands of politicians.
