The Federal AMA has commenced a series of grassroots meetings with GPs around the country to hear first hand how the current reforms of the health system are affecting general practices and family doctors at the local level.

Last night, Federal AMA Vice President, Dr Steve Hambleton, and AMA Queensland President, Dr Gino Pecoraro, hosted a meeting of local doctors - AMA members and non-members, local graduates and international graduates - in suburban Brisbane.

Dr Hambleton told the meeting that there had been a lot of talk about hospital reform but the focus must now be on the front line of health service delivery - general practice and the vital role of family doctors.

"As President Obama said in the U.S., health reform must build on what works and fix what doesn't work," Dr Hambleton said.

"General practice works. Build it up.

"When people get sick, they want to see a doctor. Support family doctors. Provide them with more resources to serve their patients and communities. Take the pressure off them."

Dr Pecoraro said there was discussion around e-Health.

"Family doctors must be able to communicate with each other, with specialist colleagues, and with hospitals to join up the health system," Dr Pecoraro said.

"The Government must drive this reform with funding to help medical practitioners implement e-Health in their practices, but the first priority is to deliver the unique health identifier that could be used by everyone."

Dr Hambleton reiterated the Federal AMA's support for e-Health.

"Australia has to get started on e-Health implementation to keep up with the rest of the world and to improve patient care."

There was lively discussion at the meeting about the Government's proposals for Practice Nurse subsidies and the capped funding diabetes care plan.

The GPs in attendance were concerned that practice payments posed a potential threat to the individual doctor-patient relationship.

Dr Hambleton contrasted the Government's proposals to move public hospitals to activity based funding with the diabetes proposal, which is based on annual block funding.

There was general agreement that if Divisions of General Practice transformed into Medicare Locals the influence of GPs on the governance of them must not be diluted.

Dr Hambleton said that local clinician engagement was essential if Medicare Locals were to be relevant and supportive of family doctors and their patients.

The plight of overseas trained doctors in Australia was raised.

Dr Hambleton said that there is a renewed focus by the AMA on providing our newly arrived overseas doctors with a support structure through the AMA.

"The Dr Patel case highlighted the fact that International Medical Graduates need to be better selected, better supported, and never asked to work outside their area of expertise," Dr Hambleton said.

The AMA is planning similar GP meetings around the country - both city and regional - in several States ahead of the Federal Election.

AMA Family Doctor Week will be held from 19-25 July, during which AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, will set out the AMA's expectations on health reform and election health policy at the National Press Club in Canberra.

Source:
Australian Medical Association