ED data highlights need for urgent GP investment: RACGP

New data has revealed more patients are pouring into New South Wales’ public hospital system, renewing RACGP calls for urgent investment into general practice.
 
According to new Bureau of Health Information (BHI) data, released on Wednesday, when emergency department (ED) patients were asked whether they thought their condition could have been treated by a GP or other health professional, 16% said ‘yes, to some extent’ and a further 12% said ‘yes, definitely’.
 
When patients were asked why they did not see a GP or other health professional, 38% said it was because their GP or health professional service was closed, and 23% said they could not get an appointment ‘within a reasonable time’.
 
In response, NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said ‘the Commonwealth’s GP shortage crisis is placing severe pressure on our hospitals as people have little choice but to present to our EDs for non-emergency conditions’.
 
‘The Commonwealth is responsible for the availability and training of more GPs,’ he told newsGP.
 
‘States are responsible for investing in, building and operating hospitals.’
 
RACGP NSW&ACT Chair Dr Rebekah Hoffman hit out against the decision to direct funding towards emergency and urgent care, saying GPs are the best medicine for the state’s ‘struggling health system’. 
 
‘It’s absolutely absurd,’ she told newsGP.
 
‘Their thinking is so completely backwards when what we know is that spending money in general practice and increasing the budget for GPs prevents people from going to hospital, and I can’t understand why they continue to put millions of dollars into hospital systems and urgent care centres, and they’re not funding basic general practice.
 
‘It’s frustrating beyond imagination when they’re refusing to look at what is an absolute, proven solution.’
 
BHI data for the September 2024 quarter shows record pressure on NSW hospitals, with 787,590 ED attendances – up 2.1% or 15,949 compared with the same quarter a year earlier. 
 
NSW Ambulance responses were also the highest on record at 385,873 – an increase of 22,622 responses, or 6.2%, compared with the same period in 2023.
 
In response to the data, the NSW Government announced the rollout of its ‘comprehensive ED relief package’ as the report shows unprecedented pressure mounting on the state’s hospital system.
 
The $441.8 million package includes $171.4 million to introduce three additional virtual care services and $100 million to back urgent care services, among other initiatives.
 
The State Government said it is challenges in ‘accessing primary care’ that is putting pressure on an overburdened ED system, but the funding package did not include any additional support for general practice.
 
But Dr Hoffman said pouring billions more taxpayers’ dollars into hospitals and non-doctor services is not the answer.
 
‘What we know from the Health of the Nation report is that patients can get into their GPs, and we have more people, more junior doctors wanting to become GPs than ever before, and so I don't know where they’re getting their data from,’ she said.
 
‘All the information that’s been spouted, which we’ve disproven in our study, is just wrong.’
 
The latest Health of the Nation report, Dr Hoffman explained, shows almost all patients can get in to see a GP for a non-complex consult within three weeks and, if they require an urgent visit, 90% can get in within 24 hours.
 
‘We would be calling on the Government to stop spreading that misinformation, because it’s not true and it has been disproven,’ Dr Hoffman said.
 
‘Once again, we can only invite state and federal governments, health ministers, to talk to the RACGP.’
 
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