Page 1323 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 25 March 2009
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Unfortunately, because of the neglect by this government of the community health sector, the ACT is in a position where we cannot even meet the current needs of the community. We are literally at bursting point. The capacity of this government to deliver services in line with community expectation worries me greatly and its ability to secure more GPs and primary health services to meet future growth is in serious doubt if the last 7½ years is any guide.
We know, for instance, that by the year 2020 our population will be 370,000 and demand for acute services, that is, hospital services, will double. This is assuming, of course, that no more GP clinics close their doors. The primary and community health sector is a vitally important element in the health and wellbeing of any jurisdiction. Some would argue that it is the most important. Indeed, the need to move toward a more community-oriented and primary-focused model of healthcare delivery is recognised in a number of ACT Health policy documents. It therefore astounds me that this situation has been allowed to be developed over such a long period under this government. (Time expired.)
MS BRESNAN (Brindabella) (4.03): I thank Mr Hanson for bringing on this motion today. The topic is both timely and important as the closure of small medical practices is an issue that is affecting more and more Canberrans. The Greens believe that access to quality health services is a basic human right. In an ideal Canberra, everyone would have access to bulk-billing general practitioners in a timely manner.
I note that a number of amendments will be moved later in the debate and the Greens will support these amendments. We do seem to have a bipartisan agreement in this chamber about the depth of the problem and a conviction to find solutions, which we welcome.
Discussion of the GP problem requires a distilling of cause and effect. The nature of the problem is complex and must be well understood if we are to implement effective solutions. It is an issue that requires attention at a state, territory and federal level and it is an issue that is being experienced across the country. The closure of the clinics in Kippax and Wanniassa is distressing for the patients that attend these practices, as people lose that key relationship of trust with their GP that they have built up, often over many years.
The first part to this problem is the seemingly diminishing number of general practitioners available to the Canberra community. It appears that our population is growing, our people are ageing and we want a continual improvement of the health services provided to us. Our primary healthcare system is experiencing stress. There are ways to address this in the short term, including establishing nurse practitioners so that people do not always have to see a GP, and providing space for GPs in community health centres. Taking GPs from regional areas in Australia or indeed from overseas is not an idea I am entirely comfortable with, as these regions more often than not suffer much more when it comes to accessing basic medical services than we do.
The second is the federal government funding an incentives model for general practitioners. This has lent itself to the closure of smaller neighbourhood-based
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