GPs have been exposed as slackers with a new report showing they are prescribing antibiotics for viruses, failing to properly care for asthma and diabetes patients and the elderly.
As the government locks heads with doctors over a planned $5 cut to the Medicare rebate, the Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services raises questions about the current standard of general practitioner care.
It reports that one in three GPs are prescribing antibiotics for upper respiratory viruses even though they don’t work on viruses and their over use is breeding deadly resistant bugs.
Only a quarter of asthma patients have an asthma action plan drawn up by their GP which outlines what medication to take, how to manage an attack so patients reduce hospital visits and take fewer days off work.
Just 47 per cent of GP practices have signed up for a program to improve care of diabetes patients that involves regular measurement of blood sugar, blood pressure, weight management to control diabetes.
BULK BILLING: Is this the end?
TOO MUCH: How antibiotics are overused
The Productivity Commission says only 31 per cent of 75 year olds have had an in depth assessment by their GP which checks their medication, continence, physical and psychological function.
And nearly half the nation’s four year olds have not had a four year old health check to examine their height and weight eyesight; hearing; oral health (teeth and gums); toileting; and allergies.
The report also shows poor access to after hours GP care means there were 2.2 million GP type presentations to hospital emergency departments.
It could be the reason for the surprising finding that more patients say they are satisfied with their dentists (94 per cent) than their doctor (90 per cent).
The report comes just weeks after the government was forced to back down on its plan to stamp out so called “six minute medicine” by cutting the Medicare rebate by $20.
It is also planning to cut the Medicare rebate by $5 from July and freeze indexation of the payment.
Australian Medical Association president Dr Brian Owler said the taxpayer was “certainly getting value for money” from GP care.
The number of preventable hospitalisations had fallen in the last five years, he said.
More than 90 per cent of patients say their GP listened carefully to them, showed them respect and spent enough time with them, he said.
He concedes more needs to be done to help GPs reduce antibiotic use but says part of the problem is patient expectations, they don’t understand antibiotics only fight bacteria and not viruses.
“There are some people who do need to have antibiotics because they are susceptible to infection,” he said.
The government’s plan to cut funding to GPs by cutting and freeze the Medicare rebate would only exacerbate not solve any problems with primary care, he said.
“We need to spend more on GP care, its cost effective, it keeps people out of the hospital system,” he said.
Opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King said the Productivity Commission has today “put the final nail in the coffin of the now twice discredited GP Tax, confirming the Abbott Government’s entire case for the GP Tax is built on a lie”.
Far from rising it showed Commonwealth spending on health had fallen from $62.5 billion to $61 billion and spending on primary health care, had been unchanged for a decade, accounting for 8.7 per cent of government health spending in 2012/13 compared to 9.0 per cent in 2003/04 and a peak of 9.3 per cent in 2004/05, she said.
“The evidence is now in and the Minister should accept once and for all that the GP Tax cannot be reworked and must be abandoned,” she said.
The report also reveals the over 70s are the fattest Australians with 80 per cent of men and 74 per cent of women aged over 70 overweight or obese compared to 63 per cent of adults.
In a good sign the number kids of normal weight has gone up from 67.7 per cent in 2007-08 to 69.8 per cent in 2011-12.
The number of heart attacks has plunged from 534 per 100,000 people in 2007 to 405.9 per 100,000 in 2012.