‘A big red flag’: Warning follows NHS failings

A multi-billion-dollar health shake up in the United Kingdom will see money shifted from hospitals into general practice, in a move the RACGP described as a ‘big red flag’ for Australia.
 
This week, the country’s Health Secretary Wes Streeting said improving access to family doctors is key to helping an NHS in crisis, with citizens currently forced into emergency departments by a lack of available primary care.
 
‘Patients are finding it harder than ever to see a GP,’ he said.
 
‘Patients can’t get through the front door of the NHS, so they aren’t getting the timely care they need.’
 
RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins says this move must serve as a warning sign for Australia, which is currently heading in a similar direction.
 
‘The [UK] Government failed to invest in general practice, and now the Government is scrambling to save the broken system that they failed to invest in,’ she said.
 
Mr Streeting announced the change in preparation for talks with junior doctors who have been intermittently striking since 2022, demanding better pay and conditions.
 
These doctors previously had their pay cut by more than a quarter, with their strikes costing the NHS over $3 billion.
 
Primary care takes up less than 10% of the NHS budget in England, equating to a spend of around $314 billion Australian.
 
That funding rate has been falling despite higher demands on health services.
 
Dr Higgins says 6.7% of Australia’s healthcare funding goes into general practice but that must increase to around 10%.
 
‘We need to flip our system in Australia so that we put money into general practice or primary care versus expensive hospitals,’ she said.
 
GPs have previously aired dire warnings that Australia will replicate the failures of the UK health system, with RACGP members ‘very concerned’ about the Federal Government’s ongoing Scope of Practice review.
 
Although the review is still being compiled, the RACGP says it is heading in the direction of role substitution and fragmentation of care.
 
In previous submissions, the college said it fears the role of GPs will be devalued through the review, resources will be wasted, and patients will be put at risk by greater autonomy being given to non-doctor healthcare workers.
 
All of this has already been seen within the NHS – worsening outcomes for patients and leading UK doctors to flee to Australia’s healthcare system.
 
The lessons here for Australia, Dr Higgins urges, is for the Federal Government to learn to ‘fund the foundations of the healthcare system, which is general practice and primary care’.
 
‘Keep people out of hospitals in the first place,’ she said.
 
‘People who have a family doctor live healthier, happier and longer lives.’
 
Dr Higgins also issued a call out to any UK GPs who have made the move to Australia.
 
‘The Australian Government needs to listen to their stories about why they left the NHS,’ she said.
 
‘Their stories serve as a warning, but also for an opportunity for the Australian Government to fund general practice first.’
 
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England funding general practice health services Medicare NHS UK