General practice peak bodies have called for more equitable investment into rural generalism, among other things.
With the long-awaited federal election date finally announced, many health organisations are airing their concerns and demands as politicians start their campaigns.
These requests have come from the context of the recent budget release that drew mixed reviews in the health sector.
While the $8.5 billion bulk-billing package was largely welcomed, there was still discourse over current structural issues in healthcare that would limit its positive effects
A large portion of this criticism has come from rural health organisations, the National Rural Health Alliance and the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine.
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Today both groups highlighted the current issue of rural health consistently not seeing equitable funding.
“As the cost of living continues to rise, the disparities in healthcare funding and access for rural people are becoming more pronounced, making it vital for this election to focus on ensuring health equity for all Australians,” said NRHA chief executive Susi Tegen.
The NRHA also highlighted the disparity between rural and urban counterparts, with rural Australians receiving on average $848 less per person per year, equalling $6.55 billion in total healthcare funding.
ACRRM reiterated this and affirmed how a lot of the collateral issues facing rural generalism stem from a lack of government investment.
President Dr Rod Martin, spoke with TMR on what government should be focusing on this election cycle to benefit rural healthcare.
“It’s a difficult, but not impossible thing for the federal government to take a significant role in shoring up and rebuilding maternity obstetric services in rural and remote areas.” he said.
“We keep on seeing more and more maternity services closing or being threadbare when it comes to having enough staff.”
Furthermore, ACRRM says while election promises are welcomed, there needs to be formal action backing up those statements.
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“It’s a verbal commitment, you know, behind which funding should come in.
“We urge all political parties to commit to these recommendations to ensure equitable healthcare for all Australians, no matter their postcode,” Dr Martin stated.
“There’s plenty of tax being paid by rural Australians, but not much return on that tax investment.”
ACRRM has also called for immediate action to prevent any closure of rural maternity services to ensure rural access to essential care and further support the rural health workforce.
“Even here, a city of 25,000 people, we’ve got one of our doctors that has had to change what she does altogether because it’s just about impossible to get sufficient childcare so that she can work during the day and have her kids safely looked after.” Dr Martin told TMR.
“If we miss out on one doctor because there’s no childcare places available in a particular town, then that drops our workforce by 30% or 50% if that one doctor can’t work in in a particular practice.”
The RACGP wants to see restructuring of Medicare to accommodate longer GP consults and mental health consults.
“This is why the RACGP’s plan calls for a 40% increase in patient rebates for longer consults, and a 25% increase in patient rebates for mental health,” said college president Dr Michael Wright.
He told TMR he was pleased to see health had already been placed as a priority election issue. He acknowledged the need for healthcare to be affordable, accessible, high quality and viable.
“We have to be able to keep our doors open,” said Dr Wright.
He cautioned against a campaign that promised free healthcare for all Australians through Labor’s promise to raise bulk-billing rates.
“That language really puts GPS under pressure, it increases expectation from the patients that this is supposed to all be free, and it’s not,” he said.
“It’s costing taxpayers large amounts of money. And the care that we provide is high quality, but there’s a cost to providing that, and it’s a pretty efficient cost. Investing more in us is the better way to do it, rather than set it up for more clinics [such as urgent care clinics] that potentially work in competition.”
Dr Wright said the RACGP welcomed both sides of governments’ promise for more Medicare funding but wanted there was still a long way to go.
“I think we know that general practice has been underfunded for decades,” he told TMR.
“This investment in Medicare is well overdue, but we just have to make sure that it does what we need it to do, which is support access to quality care and help support general practices to provide that into the future.”
The Australian Medical Association held similar concerns.
“From the commitments we have already seen in Labor’s budget and Peter Dutton’s reply speech, it is clear health will be a major theme of this year’s election campaign,” federal president Dr Danielle McMullen said.
“We welcome the funding commitments from both major parties to invest heavily in Medicare, but we will continue to push for bolder reform.
“It is crucial our health system is set up to meet the needs of our patients today, and into the future.”
