GPNN GENERAL PRACTICE WEEK EDITION
General Practice Week (15-21 June 2008) is highlighting the importance of general practice in our healthcare system and showing that GPs are leading the way to better health.
ADVOCATING FOR PATIENTS IN HEALTH REFORM – AMA PRESIDENT ADDRESSES THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB IN CANBERRA
In one of the highlights of General Practice Week, AMA President, Rosanna Capolingua, addressed the National Press Club in Canberra on 18 June 2008. Dr Capolingua outlined a vision to improve support for general practice. She said that GPs are the most effective gatekeepers in primary health and have the comprehensive training to treat patients holistically.
Click here to view the full text of Dr Capolingua’s address.
GENERAL PRACTICE SOLUTIONS FOR ENHANCING PRIMARY HEALTH CARE
The AMA, in a joint statement with the RACGP, ACCRM and RDAA, said that general practice provides high-quality continuous care that is patient centred and cost effective. The Government’s proposed National Primary Care Strategy should ensure that:
· Australians continue to have access to high-quality general practice services.
· general practices are given additional support to allow them to deliver more preventative health care services and tackle the growing burden of chronic disease.
· general practice is the gateway to allow patients enhanced access to other health professionals – including general practice nurses and allied health service providers such as physiotherapists and dieticians.
· primary health care services in workforce shortage areas such as rural Australia are improved through incentives and assistance to get more general practitioners and primary health care teams in these parts of the country.
· general practice training opportunities and incentives are enhanced so that many of the new medical school graduates choose to enter general practice over the next few years.
Click here to view the full statement.
CUTTING RED TAPE SO GPS CAN SPEND MORE TIME WITH PATIENTS
The AMA says that unnecessary paperwork is severely affecting the amount of time GPs are able to spend with their patients. Dr Capolingua said that young doctors were turned off general practice because of all the paperwork. Up to a quarter of a GP’s time is spent on paperwork. Doctors rank administrative problems in their top five difficulties in running a GP practice. The AMA, as part of General Practice Week, is calling for paperwork requirements in a raft of government programs to be drastically cut - such as Practice Incentive Programs, service incentives, chronic disease items, and authority prescriptions. More information is available here.
SUPER GPS – NOT GP SUPER CLINICS
The AMA believes that the Government’s centrepiece GP Super Clinics policy may only benefit a limited number of Australians and, in fact, do damage to many existing general practices that currently provide valuable patient care. Dr Capolingua said the Government should use the $275 million set aside for GP Super Clinics to develop measures to enhance GP services across the country. The AMA believes that if the Government is serious about improving primary care, it should work with the peak medical body on the broad measures needed to improve access to GP services for all Australians. Such measures include:
· significantly expanding training places in general practice.
· simplifying the Medicare Benefits Schedule – allowing GPs to focus on preventative care and the effective management of chronic disease, as well as manage acute presentations.
· creating initiatives to support the use of practice nurses – for and on behalf of GPs.
· appropriately indexing patient rebates to keep pace with the rising costs of service delivery.
· supporting the extension of IT infrastructure across health service delivery to improve the coordination of patient care.
· reducing red tape and unnecessary compliance costs.
Click here for more details.
REFORM MBS FOR PATIENT BENEFITS
The AMA believes the Government must reform the MBS to better rebate patients’ access to GPs. The MBS must also be properly indexed, aligned with increasing costs. Dr Capolingua said the current MBS was complex, and needed to be modernised to meet changing patient needs. Over the past 15 years, the number of GP consultation items had increased four-fold; the demand is higher and more complex. She said that patients need a rebate system that supports them when they see a doctor for acute care, and also for more chronic or complex problems, and for preventative medicine. GP are needing to spend more time with their patients. “We need a modern MBS that supports the patient’s access to the clinically effective and cost effective high-quality care that is delivered in general practice.” Click here for more information.
IMPROVING THE USE OF GENERAL PRACTICE NURSES
The AMA has again called on the Government to support practices to increase the utilisation of general practice nurses and help GPs to expand access to care. The AMA wants the Government to expand the ‘for and on behalf of’ Medicare rebate for GPs with practice nurses. This would enable GPs to work more efficiently with their practice nurses, and therefore, be able to see more patients and provide more service to patients.
There are now more than 7,700 practice nurses as part of general practice throughout the country. General practice is already using nurses to assist in patient care and management under medical supervision. More support for general practice nurses is needed. Dr Capolingua, said nurses employed in general practice were able to take some pressure off GPs, allowing for more consultations and the provision of improved team-based care arrangements. “GPs have been leading the way to better health through the coordination of patient care but this could be even better if the Government put support in the right place,” she said. Click here for more information.
GP TRAINING A MUST
The AMA has again called on the Government to make general practice training a priority. Dr Capolingua said that if the Government truly wanted to strengthen primary care in Australia, it needed to help engineer a significant increase in the number of doctors choosing general practice as a career. Dr Capolingua said that GPs are the interface of quality health care for Australians and the Government must assist with measures to encourage new graduates from medical schools to choose to become a GP. The supply of GPs must keep pace with Australia’s population growth and increasing health needs. Find more details here.
MANAGING THE RISK OF VIOLENCE IN MEDICAL PRACTICE
The Australian Medical Association has launched an anti-violence kit to make medical practices safer for GPs, their staff and patients. As part of General Practice Week, the AMA has sent out the kit, We care for you, you care for us, in the current edition of Australian Medicine to all GP members – explaining the risks of violence in medical practice.
Research indicates that more than half of GPs are exposed to work-related violence in any 12-month period. GPs are very concerned about protecting their patients from violence in their practices. Dr Capolingua, said this violence could take many forms – including assault, stalking, verbal abuse (the most common), threatening behaviour, sexual harassment or property damage. "The impact on people working in the practice, as well as patients, can be significant," she said. The anti-violence kit will give GPs useful and practical information on how to manage the risks of workplace violence, how to identify, assess and control risks and what to do after an incident. Click here for more details.
AMA SEEKS CLARITY ON LEVEL C AND D CONSULTATION ITEMS
The AMA will be meeting with the Department of Health and Ageing on 25 June to discuss our concerns with the comments in the current Professional Services Review’s report to the profession that suggests that there is a considerable amount of confusion among GPs on how to use the Level C and D consultation items. We’ll keep you posted on this important issue.
TELL US WHAT YOU’RE THINKING! HAVE YOUR SAY ON THE AMA GP NETWORK FACEBOOK GROUP.
We welcome your views on the Australian Government’s proposed National Primary Care Strategy. Members are invited to post their comments on the AMA GP Network Facebook group. Members can also e-mail us at generalpractice@ama.com.au