GPs key to designing a ‘future-fit’ health system

‘Frustration’ is what Dr Emily Kirkpatrick believes is at the heart of a newsGP poll which found 95% of respondents agree GPs should play a greater role in shaping the future of Australia’s health system.
 
Dr Kirkpatrick, a South Australian GP and non-executive director across the health and education sectors, told newsGP the strident response reflects many GPs’ concerns.
 
‘We know that as GPs, we are at the centre of the healthcare system and have a great understanding around what we can offer into the system,’ she said.
 
‘And we’re a group that are really quite frustrated, and that shows in the poll response.
 
‘It’s a sense of frustration that we do have a lot we can offer into the system, particularly shaping the way the health system evolves.’
 
With the increasing complexity of the healthcare system, GPs play ‘a fundamental role’ in helping people to navigate it, says Dr Kirkpatrick, to ensure patients receive the right care at the right time.
 
‘So why not call upon GPs more to actually help design what our healthcare system needs to look like, so it is future-fit for what consumers need?’ she said.
 
‘As the system is becoming more and more confusing, there are more options for care, but is it necessarily the right care that people need at that point in time?
 
'It’s all well and good having additional services added into the system, but GPs play such a vital role in helping to navigate the system and work hand in hand with their patients regarding best care and the most appropriate provider for that care.’
 
At present, GPs have several avenues for advocacy, including through the RACGP and primary health networks, but Dr Kirkpatrick would like to see more GPs having a direct influence on state and territory health departments, where much of the structural and policy change occurs.
 
‘That’s where we see new programs being developed, election commitments, changes being put forward that do not consider the current GPs, what they can offer to the system, and how primary care fundamentally links with the acute care system,’ she said.
 
In her previous roles, including as South Australia’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Kirkpatrick says she saw the changes that could be made ‘by having key clinical leaders within state health departments, to help create visibility in the first instance, and then to help drive change in the community’.
 
‘That’s really what I see as being fundamental moving forward, is how do we have key roles within health departments to create that change, rather than just having a committee?
 
‘How do we embed GPs in our healthcare system so that we can create shared benefits for all?’
 
Dr Kirkpatrick said some of her greatest successes have been in creating greater connections between primary care and the acute care system by building stronger links between PHNs and health departments.
 
‘That was something I was most proud of; the ability to look at co-commissioned opportunities where you had state health with an agenda, primary health networks with an agenda, and GPs who want to help solve the complexity of our healthcare system,’ she said.
 
‘And we can only achieve that if we embed roles and start to have shared understanding.
 
‘I was able to create change through bringing people on the journey with me, and also being able to influence at the government level, where we can include and create change within the primary care system that benefits the whole of system and works in partnership with our acute hospital system.’
 
To the 95% of GPs who told newsGP that GPs need to have a greater role in shaping the future of Australia’s health system, Dr Kirkpatrick says it is important to know that although many decisions around the healthcare system are made within hospital-centric structures, ‘general practice is where most of the care actually happens’.
 
‘So, absolutely continue to influence and advocate, because the reality is, to ensure our system’s sustainable moving forward over the next decade, we need to make sure that our workforce is listened to, and that we partner better between the acute and primary care systems,’ she said.
 
‘So, get more involved in governance roles, in health service boards, PHNs, in the college advocacy committees, because the reality is that GPs are so key to being able to create visibility and to create change across our healthcare system.’
 
If the recent poll result is anything to go by, the college membership is rich with people keen to create change – people that Dr Kirkpatrick says should consider applying for the RACGP Future Leaders Program, which is now open for applications.
 
Having completed the program in 2019, Dr Kirkpatrick says it gave her ‘an amazing opportunity to connect with other like-minded GPs’ that fuelled each other’s drive to make a difference to the systems they worked in.
 
‘Once you have that collective of individuals who are driven to create change and improve the system, you start to realise that anything is possible,’ she said.
 
‘The Future Leaders Program provided the springboard to say, “I’ve got the motivation and I’ve got the drive to be able to create change”, but having like-minded people around me enabled me to do that, and having the support of the college, particularly in the growth of the advocacy component of the college was really key to that.’
 
Applications to the Future Leaders Program are open to current FRACGPs with at least three years of Fellowship, with some criteria exceptions.
 
Applications close on 1 September. To apply or to learn more, visit the Future Leaders Program page.
 
Log in below to join the conversation.

future leaders GP leaders GP leadership healthcare system professional development RACGP Fellows