Patients seeking treatment in emergency departments will be hit with the Abbott government’s proposed $7 co-payment if referred to a hospital’s GP clinic, doctors say.
The Napthine government has ruled out new charges, including an emergency department co-payment, for Victorians who present at emergency departments.
But Australian Medical Association Victorian branch president Tony Bartone said the proposed GP fee would slug Victorians who went to emergency departments, were deemed less critical and referred to the hospital’s after-hours GP clinic.
”It has gone from a facility where patients were expecting to receive emergency treatment at no cost, and they have been directed out to a clinic where they are up for at least a $7 payment.”
Dr Bartone said the controversial co-payment – which the federal government faces a tough battle to implement due to opposition from the Greens, Labor and Palmer United Party – would impede access to medical care for those most in need.
”It doesn’t protect our most vulnerable patients, who will be the ones who frequent emergency after-hours care.”
He said co-located after-hour GP clinics were ”pretty prevalent” in Victorian hospitals including Dandenong, Northern and the Monash Medical Centre.
The clinics are near or adjacent to emergency departments and as well as providing walk-in services outside business hours, are used to divert non-urgent patients from crowded emergency departments.
A spokesman for Victorian Health Minister David Davis said the state government opposed the $7 GP fee. ”Over the years, the Victorian government has supported GPs and community-based services to treat patients in the community, not emergency departments,” he said.
Treasurer Michael O’Brien has previously said the proposed GP fee could lead to more people turning up to emergency departments for treatment.
He said the government would monitor emergency departments ”like a hawk” to determine the impact of the proposed fee.
Shadow state health spokesman Gavin Jennings said poor people living in areas with limited access to health care would increasingly rely on ”overstretched” hospitals as a result of the Abbott government’s proposed GP fee.