‘As the gatekeepers of our primary healthcare system, GP shortages can mean getting the care you need, where you need it and when you need it can be almost impossible. ‘In general, you still need access to a GP to access subsidised services under Medicare. While bulk billing rates are being increased across all states and territories, and there are increasing numbers of Urgent Care Clinics, these services still rely on the same primary healthcare workforce plagued by shortages. ‘While governments across the country recognise they need to work together so that people can experience health care as it should be – focused on their needs, the needs of their families and their communities – this report is just more evidence showing health reform is long overdue.’ ‘The Commonwealth has committed to Strengthening Medicare, reviewing the incentives they provide to support GP practice and helping them to practise where they are needed. It is also reviewing how we can get the best from our entire highly-skilled health professional workforce, through the Scopes of Practice Review.And critically, National Cabinet has endorsed a more comprehensive and collaborative approach to be taken in the next National Health Reform Agreement, being worked on now. ‘These developments are encourAgeing, but more importantly they are crucial and need to result in people having better access to timely and appropriate care. ‘AHHA urges all Australian governments to prioritise a collaborative healthcare reform agenda to deliver care that is contemporary, fit for purpose and meets the needs and expectations of all Australians.’ to deliver universal access,’ continued Ms Woolcock. ‘In remote and rural Australia, where GP shortages have long been the norm, issues of access to primary care are biting harder than ever before, and now these gaps in access are also widening in our inner regional centres and the outer suburbs of our major cities.’ ‘We rely on a health system that assumes you can see your GP when you need to, and certainly when you are sick. 6 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA VOLUME 06, ISSUE 09
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