Doctors and medical students are calling for urgent funding and changes to Medicare to prevent a shortage of 11,000 general practitioners over the next decade.
A shortage of doctors is affecting rural communities, and rising differentiated rates (the difference between what GPs charge and what Medicare covers) makes it harder for Australians to afford healthcare.
Doctoral student Jasmine Davis says doctors in the bush are understaffed and underfunded, making it difficult to train students in rural areas.
“When students are placed in general practitioners who are not adequately funded, they simply don’t have the time or energy to be able to teach properly,” he told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
Danielle McMullen, Vice President of the Australian Medical Association, says it will be more difficult to access family doctors, hospitals and specialists if skills gaps are not addressed.
“Our hospital system will continue to be under even greater pressure and the backlog and increase in ambulances will get worse,” said Dr. McMullen.
The association says more needs to be done to address the fact that only one in seven senior medical students consider becoming a family doctor.
In a meeting with the student association, the Minister of Health and his opposition counterpart discussed the curriculum, placement opportunities and training courses.
“The road to medicine is long, it takes many years to train a family doctor,” said Dr. McMullen.
“It means the time to act is now, we can’t afford to wait.”
Health Minister Mark Butler said Medicare needs to be strengthened to make the profession more viable.
“Patients tell us it has never been this difficult to see a doctor and GPs tell us they have never been so worried,” he said.
“We need to put more money and more respect into Medicare.”
– AAP
Australia “facing a decade of GP shortage” first appeared in the New Daily.
