Charging $6 for GP visits will send more people to busy hospital emergency wards, Victoria’s health minister warns.
David Davis said if, as speculated, the federal government introduces a $6 co-payment for a GP appointment, it would make it tougher for people to go to a doctor.
“It’s hard to see how putting additional charges on improves access,” Mr Davis told reporters on Thursday.
“We will certainly advocate to the commonwealth very strongly against making primary care difficult to access.”
Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey has warned Medicare might be unaffordable without changes to payments, while Health Minister Peter Dutton has refused to comment on reports the government will introduce the $6 charge for visiting a GP.
Mr Davis said it should be easier to visit a doctor, not harder.
“The risk is if you do increase the cost of primary care and you reduce access to primary care, that there will be increased presentations in our public hospitals,” Mr Davis said.
Speaking at the launch of Victoria’s latest hospital performance data, Mr Davis said efforts to get more patients out of ambulances and into hospitals were working.
Victoria had a six percentage point annual improvement in the number of patients being transferred from an ambulance to a hospital within 40 minutes.
More than 83 per cent of ambulance patients were transferred in less than 40 minutes in the December 2013 quarter, up from 77 per cent a year earlier.
It came in the face of ongoing industrial action with the ambulance union, which is still before the Fair Work Commission.
Victorian hospitals admitted 123,271 emergency patients during the December 2013 quarter, up 7617 on the previous year.
Source: AAP