It’s a massive week for health politics and The Tea Room is heading into the fray talking with Dr Chris Irwin who sat on a conference panel with Dr Margaret Faux and Dr Karen Price on Tuesday.
Dr Irwin shares what was going on for him while he was on the stage at Wild Health Summit, as ideas for Medicare funding reform were volleyed about. He speaks candidly about the Medicare rorting story, by ABC and Nine, saying it was “a hit job” at an opportunistic time a week before the budget is handed down.
His concern is for the story’s impact on fellow GPs.
“The immense harm that's been done to the mental health of general practice cannot be overstated,” he says.
Dr Irwin says GPs need to organise and get on the front foot politically rather than waiting for crises and reacting.
We’ve also distilled the other key political stories in a Tea Room chat with political reporter Francis Wilkins.
Francis gives a round-up of the RACGP crisis summit saying that there was nothing really new in the discussions. On the flip side he said that the many GPs reported feeling more supported seeing that their concerns were not in isolation.
Francis also shares some insight on the AMA pushback on nurse practitioners pulling their weight, saying he’s “mystified” about why Professor Steve Robson, the new AMA president, chose to run with the review of GP collaboration so early in his term.
We dive into the current state of flood funding for GPs and also ponder the chances of a royal commission into AHPRA.
So grab a cuppa, take a well earned break and join us in The Tea Room. It’s been a big week.
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