The Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) says the Australian Capital Territory Government has cheated Canberrans with Urgent Care Clinics that are not staffed by specialist GPs or doctors.
Today, the ACT Government announced the roll out of Urgent Care Clinics at five sites at Gungahlin, Belconnen, Dickson, Weston and Tuggeranong.
It’s part of the Federal Government’s $358.5 million budget measure to roll out 58 Urgent Care Clinics in existing GP clinics and community health centres across Australia, in partnership with state and territory governments to ease pressure on hospital emergency departments.
RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins said the ACT Government has cheated Canberrans with Urgent Care Centres that don’t meet the Federal Government’s minimum staffing requirements.
“Today’s announcement was frankly another slap in the face for ACT GPs and Canberrans. Canberra’s hospitals have the worst wait times in the country, and unfortunately Chief Minister Andrew Barr has shown yet again that he doesn’t understand how to fix the problem, or how the health system works,” she said.
“Every other state in Australia has rolled out Urgent Care Clinics staffed by highly trained GPs and nurses working together collaboratively to provide high quality emergency care to patients. Many are built within existing general practices, which strengthens existing community health services, and avoids duplication and wastage of public funds. This approach is in line with the Federal Government’s reforms to strengthen primary care, and support multidisciplinary care with GPs, nurses, and allied health, working in teams at the top of their scope, to provide the best care possible.
“But here in the ACT, there won’t be a single GP working in an Urgent Care Clinic under Andrew Barr’s rollout, and Canberrans won’t be able to access an Urgent Care Clinic within the general practice they know and love. Canberrans have been cheated.
“The ACT Government’s Urgent Care Centres don’t meet the Federal Government’s minimum staffing requirements.
“The best value model of urgent care for patients and government health budgets is GPs working collaboratively with nurses. General practice Urgent Care Clinics are more efficient and equipped to provide a wider range of services to patients, so it’s more likely they’ll be treated on the spot, and won’t need to be referred on to the hospital emergency department.
“On the other hand, when GPs are left out, it inevitably leads to inefficiencies, duplication of care, and higher costs. The evidence shows Urgent Care Clinics without GPs not only put more pressure on hospitals, they also put more pressure on general practice because patients are often referred to GPs because they can treat a wider range of urgent care issues. Ultimately, this will leave Canberrans waiting longer in the emergency department, or to see their GP.
“This comes after Andrew Barr decided to impose an extra payroll tax on general practices, which will make care harder to access and more expensive, as most practices will be forced to pass on the costs to patients.
“The ACT Government’s Urgent Care Clinics rollout won’t solve the problem of the territory’s overflowing hospitals and emergency departments. I invite Chief Minister Barr to sit down with me and learn about how general practice actually works to keep people healthy and out of hospital, and how urgent care works – this is GPs bread and butter, we don’t need to reinvent the wheel.”
