The new NHS workforce plan for England promises a 50% increase in GP training places by 2031. But the challenges GPs are wrestling with go much deeper.
In Australia’s bulk-billing ‘deserts’, it’s incredibly difficult to find a doctor who will bulk bill. The government should step in to support or set up clinics so locals have access to health care.
Many more people need long-term specialist care, or are waiting a long time for elective surgery. These and other factors tell us we need to update how specialist referrals work.
Electrocardiograms are a common tool used by GPs to spot heart problems, and every medical student is trained to interpret one. Yet the government plans to remove Medicare funding for GPs to do this.
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne
Director, SPHERE NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health in Primary Care and Professor and Head of the Department of General Practice, Monash University