The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is urging the Federal Government to provide more funding for general practice healthcare in the upcoming May Federal Budget to ensure communities receive the high quality care they deserve.
In its Budget submission, the College advocates that the Federal Government should focus on supporting quality general practice for the future in order to address the significant challenges facing Australia’s healthcare system.
RACGP President, Professor Claire Jackson, said the Budget is a key opportunity for government to improve access, affordability, innovation and coordination of primary healthcare services in Australia.
“The College has outlined an important combination of financial and practical solutions to support general practitioners in their quest to provide high quality healthcare to individuals, their families and their communities,” Professor Jackson said.
Key themes highlighted within the RACGP’s Budget submission include:
- Investing in the future of e-health, including the need for a comprehensive review of the readiness for a Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR)
- Building capacity in general practice to remain responsive to current and future healthcare challenges
- Chronic disease prevention and management
- Re-visiting mental healthcare delivery and funding models to ensure some of Australia’s most vulnerable people have access to the mental healthcare services they deserve
- Medication safety
- Community and residential aged care
- Health assessments
- Enhancing health outcomes for regional, rural and remote communities
- Enhancing the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
The Australian healthcare system faces significant challenges due to the growing burden of chronic disease and co-morbidity, an ageing population, workforce shortages, the changing nature of the general practice workforce, and persistent patient access and equity issues. Supporting the quality general practices of the future to deliver care is vital to achieving universal access to healthcare for patients.
“The RACGP seeks Federal Government consideration of its proposals, which aim to facilitate the delivery of safe, efficient, coordinated, and comprehensive general practice and primary healthcare,” Professor Jackson said.
The RACGP’s detailed Federal Budget 2012-2013 submission is available at https://www.racgp.org.au/advocacy/reports-and-submissions.
The College’s ‘A quality general practice for the future’ discussion paper is available at www.racgp.org.au/futuregeneralpractice.