MR50H

Have Your Say on GP Issues

ACT Health Minister, Katy Gallagher MLA, today released a discussion paper developed by the
ACT GP Taskforce and is inviting the community to provide feedback on the future direction of
general practice in the region.

The Minister is encouraging members of the public to provide their views and comments on the issues raised in the discussion paper Issues and Challenges for General Practice and Primary Health Care.

“The paper draws together relevant knowledge, insights and experiences from a wide range of members of the profession and the community,” Ms Gallagher said.

“It reconfirms that there are significant challenges ahead for general practice and primary health care in Canberra.As I’ve been saying for some time, the workforce challenges facing the ACT are significant and won’t be addressed overnight,” Ms Gallagher said.

“In developing the discussion paper, the Taskforce has reassessed the current shortage of GPs in Canberra and found that the ACT needs an extra 74 full-time GPs to reach the national average of GPs per head of population.

“There is also evidence that many GPs are choosing to work part-time and preliminary research suggests that many of these are actually fully employed in other roles, such as teaching or research, and therefore limited in their capacity to increase their clinical working hours.

“Based on these trends, in order to achieve the 74 additional full-time GPs in the ACT, we would need to attract 148 GPs to fill the gap, which is an enormous challenge,” Ms Gallagher said.

The Minister said the discussion paper also presented a range of possible legislative amendments to assist general practices and the community, such as requiring a period of notice for practices planning to close and possible changes around the transfer of health records.

“Although general practices are mostly private businesses and the education, training and distribution of GPs is the responsibility of the Federal Government, the ACT Government is committed to supporting the profession and patients where possible. That’s why I established the Taskforce earlier this year after a series of sudden general practice closures and amalgamations in Canberra.

“The ACT Government is working to attract more GPs to Canberra, and recently announced $12 million in the Budget to attract and retain graduates in Canberra, support undergraduate clinical training, and provide incentive payments to GP practices for initiatives that attract doctors to Canberra.”

The community is encouraged to provide the GP Taskforce with their views and comments on the pressing issues raised in the discussion paper. The Taskforce will be holding a series of public forums including:

  • 29 June 2009, 2:30–4:30pm, Room 8, Level 2, Griffin Centre
  • 30 June 2009, 6:00–8:00pm, Room 1, Tuggeranong Community Centre
  • 2 July 2009, 6:00–8:00pm, Community Room, Belconnen Library

For more information about the forums and how to make a submission, please visit the ACT website at: You can also request further information or provide your comments by email to: . Alternatively, contact the ACT GP Taskforce Secretariat on 6205 0796 or mail your correspondence to: ACT GP Taskforce Secretariat, GPO Box 825, Canberra City ACT 2601.

Statement Ends

Date:19 June 2009

Media Contact: Kathryn Roberts Ph: 6205 0242(w) 0402 399 907(m)