The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) welcomes the release of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s (AIHW) National Health Workforce Series no. 8 Medical workforce 2012 report, highlighting the urgent need to address workforce shortages to ensure Australians continue to receive high quality, accessible care into the future.
The report identifies significant growth (16.4% between 2008–2012) in the medical industry as a whole in recent years, however the RACGP is concerned the rate of growth of the general practice profession is not keeping pace with the industry, with only 8.1% growth.
RACGP President, Dr Liz Marles, said while the report highlights a shift towards achieving a self-sufficient health workforce, it is critical the Government appropriately invest in building and sustaining the general practice workforce.
“Any investment in general practice is an investment into the improved quality and cost effectiveness of the entire Australian healthcare system. A well-resourced general practice profession ensures all Australians will have access to high quality and affordable healthcare services, now and into the future.
“General practice and primary healthcare provide integrated and whole-person care delivery, a delivery model that is well known to improve patient health outcomes and effectively lower overall healthcare costs.
The Government is urged to further commit to ensuring general practice is adequately resourced and funded to continue to deliver critical healthcare services to Australian communities,” said Dr Marles.
The AIHW report states the supply of GPs is found to be highest in those areas classified as remote and very remote with 134 full-time equivalent GPs per 100,000 people, compared to the overall population rate of 111.8 per 100,000.
Dr Marles said these figures could be misleading if the high proportion of Indigenous people living in remote communities and the vast distances between services were not taken into account.
“With a dramatically reduced life expectancy and higher rates or nearly all acute, chronic and mental illnesses, remote Indigenous communities require significant healthcare resourcing.
“Providing general practice services across vast distances presents a challenge and will inevitably mean more GPs are required to deliver the same level of services that all Australians, regardless of location, expect,” said Dr Marles.
The RACGP urges the Government to implement initiatives to support additional capacity and appropriate resourcing in general practice with an increased focus on rural general practice, ensuring every Australian has equitable access to quality primary healthcare services.