GPs in the island state have expressed frustrations over the major parties’ not prioritising the reiterated issues affecting general practice.
Concerns have emerged in Tasmania over whether either major party will address the concerns of GPs with workforce shortages, after the Labor party announced yet another new free GP clinic, bringing the TassieDoc initiative total to 10 clinics.
This doubles the total initially announced a week prior to the New Norfolk clinic promise, which was panned at the time for how it failed to address workforce issues.
The Tasmanian Labor party has touted the TassieDoc initiative as an effective pathway for providing more general practice accessibility, especially to rural and regional areas.
Nurse-led clinics in Tasmanian regional hospitals have also been announced as an election promise, much to the disgruntlement of the Tasmanian AMA.
“You cannot replace doctors without compromising patient safety,” AMA Tasmania vice president Dr Meg Creely said.
“Nurse practitioner-led clinics put patients at risk by replacing doctors with less trained staff.
“Patients deserve the safest care no matter where they live in Tasmania, and that means care led by fully qualified doctors.”
Fragmentation of care has been a recurring theme among GP advocates this election, with concerns expected to grow following a new policy commitment to expand the scope of pharmacists in the state.
After-hours incentives were the focal point of the announcement, along with maintaining current pharmacy ownership rules, increasing access to vaccinations and contraception and reforming interstate prescription regulations.
“Community pharmacies want to do even more for their patients, and this commitment to expanding community pharmacists’ scope of practice, including supporting the training and making these conditions permanent practice, will mean more access to care for more Tasmanians,” Pharmacy Guild Tasmania branch president Joe O’Malley said.
In response, the RACGP has expressed its concern that the election promise will only put further stress on an already strained system.
“The government’s just working on this mantra of affordability and accessibility and putting that above everything,” RACGP Tasmania chair Dr Toby Gardener told The Medical Republic.
“There’s no real concern about safety and quality at the moment.”
Dr Gardner also mentioned the lobbying power of the Pharmacy Guild, which is one of Australia’s biggest political donors.
Despite the flood of election pledges, many Tasmanian GPs are still waiting for commitments to address long-standing issues of workforce retention and sustainability.
Related
Advocating for reform has been complicated by the ongoing renegotiations of the National Health Reform Agreement, blurring the lines of where state funding ends and federal funding begins.
“We really need to see clarity as to who is responsible for what, because there’s no argument that either side tries to do what it can to fill gaps, but that it’s all feeling a bit messy,” RACGP chair of child and young persons’ health Dr Tim Jones told TMR.
“There is a tremendous opportunity in looking at our small rural hospitals, for GPs to be bolstering what those hospitals can offer.
“Also look at the scope of our rural generalist doctors who, have not been able to secure employment in some of these hospital roles in Tassie and because there’s been challenges around how these hospitals are set up to operate.”