Labor-Greens government must address primary care crisis

Deputy Opposition Leader and Shadow Minister for Health, Leanne Castley, will today move a motion in the ACT Legislative Assembly calling on the Labor-Greens government to deliver a practical, concrete plan to address the ACT’s crisis in primary care.

Ms Castley said the ACT has the lowest ratio of GPs to 100,000 people of any major Australian city and many practices have stopped taking new patients.

“In the ACT only 3.4 per cent of GPs bulk bill - the lowest bulk billing rate in mainland Australia,” Ms Castley said.

“Last week Cleanbill drew attention to the new but growing phenomenon of ‘membership clinics,’ –which bulk bill but charge patients some kind of membership fee in order to access their clinic.

“Cleanbill detected one such ‘membership clinic’ in the ACT – but significantly – one of only four clinics bulk billing patients.

“Moreover, this clinic was charging patients an upfront fee of $120 – higher than any other average upfront fees in mainland Australia.

“This is one more indicator of the Labor-Greens government’s neglect of primary care.”

Ms Castley said the average out-of-pocket cost to see a GP who didn’t bulk bill was almost $50 for a standard 15-minute consultation – again the highest in mainland Australia and way above the national average of $41.70.  

“It’s harder and harder to access a GP.  In 2020, 5 per cent of Canberrans found it hard to access GP services. In 2023 this rose to 19 per cent.

“Canberrans are putting off seeing a doctor, spending longer in consultations on multiple issues, or going to emergency departments.”

Ms Castley said that despite paying lip service to primary care, the Barr government’s only plan was to make things worse with its GP payroll tax, or ‘sick tax,’ which is inevitably being passed on to consumers.

“Moreover, payroll tax exemptions and amnesties available to GP clinics in a number of other states make the ACT an even less competitive place to set up a practice.

“Add in GPs burning out, retiring or cutting back on practice time and the difficulty attracting graduates to General Practice and you have a recipe for a worsening crisis in primary care.

“The Barr government needs to develop a practical, concrete plan to address this crisis now,” Ms Castley concluded.