Background
Australians deserve access to a quality, comprehensive, connected primary care sector which provides them with coordinated care led by their GP. However, timely and equitable access to general practice services is a growing issue identified across the sector.
General Practice Crisis Summit
On 5 October 2022, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) hosted the General Practice Crisis Summit in Canberra to provide a space to discuss solutions to the critical challenges impacting patient access to affordable, quality care from a financially viable general practice sector.
Efforts were made to ensure that a diverse range of viewpoints and experiences were represented at the Summit – incorporating participants from a mix of regions, health professions, genders, backgrounds and organisations.
The discussions on the day were centred around the following key topic areas and prompt questions:
- Funding and fragmentation – what funding model is required to support general practice’s leading role in providing patient-centred, continuous and coordinated care, and to ensure equitable access to this care?
- GP workforce – how can we address and reverse the erosion of the general practice workforce, ensuring general practice is an attractive career path with long term career sustainability?
- GP data – how can we improve the capture, linkage and meaningful use of data (including patient experience, clinician experience and quality patient outcomes) to support equitable general practice-based care?
Each of the above topic sessions were informed by presentations from subject matter experts.
Purpose of the White Paper
This White Paper captures and reflects the key recurring and well-supported themes raised throughout the Summit. The recommendations in the paper do not necessarily articulate RACGP or participant position. Rather, this paper captures the consensus statements made and considered during the General Practice Crisis Summit.
Summit participants were given the opportunity to review and provide feedback regarding this White Paper to ensure it is an accurate reflection of the discussion on the day.
The RACGP will use the discussions and recommendations put forward at the Summit to inform future policy and advocacy activities.
Thank you to all those who took the time to attend the Summit and work collaboratively towards meaningful solutions to address the challenges facing general practice, now and into the future.