Greater payroll taxes for GP clinics means lower profits. Clinics will seek to make up the shortfall in revenue by other means – and this could include reducing the number of patients they bulk bill.
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.
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