Funding crucial for GPs’ ‘integral role in disability care’: RACGP

GPs must be added to multidisciplinary care teams and funded for time spent on paperwork, the RACGP has said.
 
The call forms part of college feedback to Federal Government plans aimed at addressing the disability royal commission’s final report, which exposed the crisis currently playing out within Australia’s disability sector.
 
Published in September 2023, the report made 222 recommendations for change, including improving ‘laws, policies, structures and practices to ensure a more inclusive and just society’.
 
In its response, the Government recommended state and territories establish and fund specialist health and mental health services and introduce ‘health navigators’ for people with cognitive disability.
 
However, the RACGP believes it makes more sense to support existing health services, including GPs, with President Dr Nicole Higgins describing general practice’s omission as a ‘big oversight’.
 
‘GPs can make NDIS planning more efficient, reduce duplication, and better target supports because they know their patient and what works for them,’ she said.
 
‘Rather than funding the establishment of new services for people living with cognitive disability, the smartest and most-cost effective investment would be to fund multidisciplinary care teams with GPs.
 
‘We shouldn’t reinvent the wheel, it’s costly and causes fragmentation of care which isn’t good for a patients’ health.’
 
As part of the submission, the RACGP supported recommendations to improve training in cognitive disability healthcare.
 
The college would also like to see an expansion of funding to include telehealth consultations for patients who have difficulties travelling, and the implementation of health navigators for those living in rural and remote areas.
 
On a broader level, Dr Higgins reiterated her belief that Medicare is in need of major overhaul, with the current rebates not fit for purpose.
 
‘As it stands, patients’ Medicare rebates don’t cover the true cost of providing comprehensive care to people with disability, and GPs are often left out-of-pocket for things like completing NDIS paperwork if the patient isn’t present,’ she said.
 
‘The royal commission made it clear that more needs to be done to improve the health and wellbeing of people with disability. We need to get this right.
 
‘Comprehensive care delivered by GP-coordinated teams that are properly funded will improve quality of life for people with cognitive disability and be a much more cost-effective use of limited resources.’
 
The RACGP said moving forward, GPs need to play a key role in any future reform and should be consulted before changes are carried out.
 
Consultation on the Government’s response has now closed, and the Commonwealth is ‘carefully considering’ the royal commission’s recommendations.
 
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