It’s become abundantly clear that GPs don’t think too highly of the Medicare investment announced this week. Here’s what the rest of the sector thought.
General practitioners have been all over the news this week responding to bipartisan promises of a new $8.5 billion in Medicare funding, but GPs are not the only cog in the health machine angling for a cash injection this year.
Nurses, corporates, rural allied health and the Health Services Union have all come forward this week to give their two cents on the cash promise, expressing varying degrees of support.
Both the Primary Care Business Council, which represents the interests of corporate clinic chains, and GP corporate ForHealth Group put out respective press releases welcoming the funding announcement.
PCPC chair Dr Ged Foley said the investment in bulk-billing incentives represents “relief” that the sector had been calling for.
“This funding will mean more practices will remain open, more doctors will choose to be GPs, more GPs will choose to work in disadvantaged areas and, at the end of the day, it will improve access to no-cost healthcare for an increased number of Australians,” Dr Foley said.
ForHealth CEO Andrew Cohen, meanwhile, called the funding pledge “a vital change to … vulnerable outer metropolitan and regional communities”.
“It will lead to investment in more practices, better distribution of practices and GPs, longer hours of operation, and more local graduates committing to general practice as a pathway,” he said.
In contrast, the National Rural Health Alliance was the most sceptical of the pack, welcoming the funding announcement while also saying it was “deeply concerned” by the ongoing challenges to health access in rural and remote communities.
“Many rural practices are already experiencing a thin or failed market, making it difficult to cover costs,” Alliance chief executive Susi Tegen said.
“The newly announced government measures will do little to change that reality.”
The alliance represents the combined interests of 53 peak bodies, covering disciplines including pharmacy, emergency medicine, sonography and dentistry.
According to Ms Tegen, the success of the incentives will hinge on local health workforces actually existing.
She called on the government to ensure that a meaningful proportion of the training funding announced as part of the pledge be directed to rural recipients.
“Scholarships must be backed by infrastructure funding for housing, ensuring students, trainees, and clinicians have a place to live and accommodate their families,” Ms Tegen said.
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“The benefits of such training programs, while positive, will take many years to materialise.
“Rural Australians need flexible solutions now. Those delivering services on the ground need support, as the healthcare access issue needs priority.”
The HSU represents a range of healthcare sector professionals, including some junior doctors, nurses, psychologists and Aboriginal Health Workers, but generally not GPs or other specialist doctors.
Despite the fact that GPs are the cohort which is most likely to benefit from the investment, the HSU “strongly endorsed” Labor’s $8.5 billion funding pledge.
“This is the largest single investment in Medicare since its creation and represents a return to the core principle that accessing healthcare should depend on your Medicare card, not your credit card,” HSU national secretary Lloyd Williams said.
“Our members see firsthand how rising out-of-pocket costs force people to delay seeking medical care. This comprehensive reform package will make an immediate difference by expanding bulk billing access to all Australians, not just concession card holders.”
Mr Williams was particularly supportive of the rural loading applied to the bulk billing incentive scheme and the additional funding for workforce support.
The Australian College of Nursing was more measured in its support for the funding, calling it a “short-term fix” to the problems plaguing the sector.
It urged the government not to lose sight of vital long-term reforms, which it said included expanding the scope of nurses, nurse practitioners and midwives.
By the nursing college’s math, around half the nursing workforce is not being used to its full extent and up to one third of primary care nurses rarely use all their skills in patient care.
“The Federal Government has an excellent program of deep healthcare reform afoot,” college CEO Adjunct Professor Kathryn Zeitz said.
“If implemented, it would allow Australia’s nurses to work to their full ability.”
Professor Zeitz welcomed the $10.5 million put aside for 400 nursing scholarships, but said it was just a “small step” in addressing the healthcare crisis.
Over at the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners, which represents a subset of nurses with additional training, the tone was slightly more positive regarding the scholarship funding.
The scholarships will be administered through the Primary Care Nursing and Midwifery Scholarship program, which supports nurses and midwives to complete post-graduate study in primary care.
“There has already been significant interest, with high quality and suitable applications outnumbering the [1800 current] scholarships available,” ACNP CEO Leanne Boase said.
“It is clear that many nurses and midwives want to do the work to advance their clinical skills and careers working in Primary Care, in more advanced roles, improving health outcomes.”
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