Cautious welcome for 1800 Medicare

3 minute read


Where the AMA has questioned the latest election commitment, the RACGP has backed it.


The royal college has officially endorsed the latest pledge from federal health minister Mark Butler, which would see Healthdirect morph into a free 24/7 national health advice line and afterhours GP telehealth service.

Announced on Sunday, the $204.5 million initiative would “improve” the existing Healthdirect service and expand it nationwide under the name 1800 Medicare.

The Healthdirect helpline, which is staffed by triage nurses, currently covers all states and territories bar Queensland and is known in Victoria as NURSE-ON-CALL.

Helpline nurses have the ability to give general healthcare advice as well as information on the type of medical help callers might need to seek out.

See the latest Election 2025 news all on one page, here

This includes connecting the caller with appropriate services like general practice, urgent care or the Healthdirect virtual GP.

The Healthdirect virtual GP offering – which is essentially a telehealth appointment – is already available 24/7, but only in some states.

Healthdirect itself is free for Australians.

Under a re-elected Labor government, the triage nurses at Healthdirect, which will be renamed 1800 Medicare, will be able to connect patients nationwide with an 1800 Medicare GP via phone or video on weekends and between 6pm and 8am on weekdays.

“It will give … families comfort that if they get a sick child at 3am … on Saturday or Sunday morning, that there’ll be someone at the end of the phone who can give them advice,” Mr Butler said.

“And if they need to have a telehealth with a qualified GP, they can do that completely free of charge, knowing that it’s a high-quality GP and it will be looped back into their traditional healthcare system … on their My Health Record.”

Opposition health spokesperson Anne Ruston called the funding pledge “misleading”.

“Whilst we support today’s announcement and the much-needed access across all states for after-hours support for telehealth, it is misleading for the prime minister to claim this is a new measure – this is a rebadging of the existing Healthdirect service,” she said.

Sentiment among doctors was split.

RACGP president Dr Michael Wright backed the announcement, calling it a “positive step forward”.

“After-hours care is a key part of what GPs do in communities nationwide every day, and this announcement recognises that,” he said.

“So, we look forward to understanding the detail of this program and working with the government to make sure that general practice is consulted every step of the way.

“It is essential that this service integrates with existing general practice care.”

The federal AMA, meanwhile, had a cooler response.  

“There has been enormous growth in call centre and online triage services over the recent years,” AMA president Dr Danielle McMullen said.

“While these services can be a useful part of an integrated GP out-of-hours service model, it is not a substitute for accessing high quality GP after-hours services. 

“If Labor is re-elected, the AMA will firmly advocate for the government and the Department of Health and Aged Care to ensure that this service is effective for patients and complements the role of general practice as part of an integrated approach.” 

End of content

No more pages to load

Log In Register ×