NSW and Victoria have joined forces to demand urgent reforms to Medicare at the next national cabinet meeting, insisting an overhaul of the healthcare system is the most urgent challenge facing the country.
On Tuesday NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet threw his weight behind Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ declaration that difficulties in accessing bulk billing GPs were prompting patients to flood hospital emergency departments.
Mr Perrottet said the pandemic had highlighted the pressure the state’s hospitals had been put under by failures of Medicare, as he called a discussion on health to be the “most urgent national priority” on the agenda at a meeting on February 1.
The figures are roughly the same in NSW where category four and five ailments – which are non-life-threatening and many of which could be treated outside hospital – make up about one-third of all emergency department admissions each year. The federal government has already installed a dedicated Strengthening Medicare Taskforce to identify ways to improve affordability, access, and support for patients with ongoing and chronic illness. A final report from the taskforce was to be delivered to the government by the end of 2022.around the country over four years to take pressure off emergency departments.
Dr McMullen also warned that there would be a shortage of nearly 11,000 GPs across the country by 2032 and that the GP and public hospital systems had become “disjointed”.
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