The Federal Budget next Tuesday (3 May) is the Turnbull Government’s final chance to show Australia it is really serious about providing adequate funding for GPs and our world-class healthcare system according to The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) President Dr Frank R Jones.
“Over the past few months the RACGP has been tireless in its efforts to persuade Canberra to adopt realistic strategies to better support general practice and the election expected in July will give voters an opportunity to make a judgement call depending on what Tuesday’s Budget reveals,” Dr Jones said.
The RACGP has been strongly advocating for a reversal of the freeze on the indexation of the Medicare Benefits Scheme (MBS), commitments to developing the patient-centred medical home, more research in primary care, and greater support for interns and junior doctors.
'Reversing the freeze on the indexation of the MBS is absolutely essential if the Government is to be true to its stated goal of improving general healthcare standards,' Dr Jones said.
'Primary healthcare services are cost effective and prevent higher expenditure on more expensive hospital services but the indexation of MBS patient rates must keep pace with the cost of quality healthcare services or the whole system will suffer negative flow-on effects.
'The freeze is not just bad economics, it’s bad for health.'
The RACGP pre-budget submission also outlines recommended steps towards implementing the patient-centred medical home which will provide patients with quality care in context, especially for patients with complex co-morbidities.
'In an era when the population is rapidly ageing and more patients are suffering from multiple chronic diseases it’s an approach that is urgently required,' Dr Jones said.
The RACGP is also calling for the Government to make a firm commitment to more academic research into primary care with dedicated funding for general practice research and support for general practice research infrastructure.
'We need a Primary Health Care Institute of Research just like the UK and Denmark,' Dr Jones said.
'Finally we need to re-invest in prevocational GP exposure for our junior doctors: we need the brightest and the best because generalism is the hardest specialty of all.'
The RACGP’s 2016-17 pre-budget submission is available on the RACGP website.