'We still need people to do the job': Riverina GPs disappointed in budget

Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivered the 2024/25 budget on Tuesday night, where a total of $112.7 billion was allocated to health.

Within this, $1.2 billion has been pledged to continue strengthening Medicare, with $227 million allocated to the creation of a further 29 Medicare urgent care clinics in regional and rural areas.

Temora-based GP, and head of the NSW Rural Doctors Association, Dr Rachel Christmas, said this isn't the most pressing issue the government needed to address.

Instead, she would have liked to have seen more investment into increasing numbers in the workforce.

"I don't think it [the budget] has really been thought through from a rural perspective, because there's been no mention of workforce," Dr Christmas said.

"Urgent care clinics sound great, and they are a reactive kind of strategy to the pressure on hospital systems, but the trouble is it's not actually helping in rural areas.

"We know one of the big issues in rural areas is actually getting people out into the areas to do the job.

"The Rural Doctors Association has looked at funding for getting junior doctors out into rural areas to experience rural practice... exposure increases the likelihood that people will go back into those roles when they're working, and there's no mention of that.

"What are the initiatives for improving the likelihood of getting workforce out into these vulnerable areas?"

President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Dr Nicole Higgins, labelled the clinics as an inefficient use of the limited resources the health industry has.

"Urgent care clinics are not value for money," Dr Higgins said.

"They will disrupt the care people receive from their usual GP and re-direct the limited GP workforce from regular practices, worsening the workforce shortage."

Dr Higgins is disappointed to see that the work the government instilled last year to try and repair general practice care, and fix the under-funding of Medicare, has stalled, saying they dropped the ball with this year's budget.

"Australians are already putting off essential care due to rising costs, this budget won't help, so out of pocket fees will increase," Dr Higgins said.

"There is no more support for rural and regional patients.

"It shows the government has the wrong priorities for fixing the health system."

Dr Raymond Lewandowski is the president of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia and while he can't see any reforms for long term improvements in the sector in this years budget, he's keen to learn what the government might plan for the future.

"We are hopeful that this year's budget is a one-off and that the breadcrumbs we have seen this year will lead to bigger things in next year's budget," Dr Lewandawski said.

"We had put forward numerous, considered, big picture measures to greatly improve access to health professionals and health services in the bush, but sadly these seem to have been ignored.

"The medium to long-term viability of rural general practice is at serious risk, particularly in rural and remote communities, and a new funding structure is urgently required so they can stay afloat and continue to provide care.

"Yet the government has opted to return to the old way of general practice funding, item by item."

While $888.1 million has been allocated as part of a mental health, Dr Rachel Christmas believes the government hasn't addressed the key problem of workforce and access to care.

"What they're trying to do is get more counselling involved, it's more accessible for the general needs of the population on a short term basis," she said.

"But we just need access, and if we can get more people into that then to help the population, that's great.

"There's a lot of talk about mental health and having drop-in clinics, are they going to be in the country? Are they going to be in the cities?

"I applaud investment in mental health, and I applaud investment in women's health, I think that's great.

"But we still need people to do the job."