Treating patients outside of business hours was something Young District Medical Centre manager David Kay said was “out of the question” for his practice.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
His comments follow a recent announcement by Health Minister Sussan Ley on new funding arrangements to encourage general practices to treat patients after hours.
She said general practices that provide after-hours services to patients will be able to apply for a Practice Incentives Program (PIP) after-hours incentive from the Federal Government from July 1.
It’s a way to improve access to a local doctor for Australians and boost services.
“Access to after-hours primary health care was an issue that was consistently raised with me during my GP consultations,” Ms Ley said.
She said the new PIP after-hours incentive was developed based on feedback from doctors and other stakeholders through the independent After Hours Primary Health Care Review and the PIP Advisory Group.
“After-hours services will be simpler to find as all practices will be required to effectively communicate their after-hours access arrangements to patients, as well as register up-to-date details of their after-hours arrangements in the National Health Service Directory,” Ms Ley said.
But it’s a service Mr Kay said his centre simply couldn’t provide because his doctors were already flat out.
“So increased work hours is out of the question,” he said.
“The after hours medical service is currently provided by the hospital in Young.
“Murrumbidgee Local Health District is responsible for the operation of the Young Health Service and as such is answerable to the state government if those services are not provided.”