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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2018 5:53:35 GMT 7
GPs need to be recognised as the specialists they areEvery day in Australia, thousands of medical decisions are made by people with no health training at all – and general practitioners like me are furious and frustrated that our training is often seen as not good enough by the paper-pushers. I reached boiling point last week after spending an hour on the phone trying to get a taxi subsidy for one of my patients. There are plenty of boxes to tick to get a taxi subsidy, but specifically you need a specialist letter confirming you cannot walk 20 metres without assistance. So what about a woman in her 70s with multiple problems who can usually walk 100 metres slowly, who has just had a major operation? People with complex medical problems need someone to act as a linchpin – and that person is their GP. This case was a medical emergency. My patient was expecting to be discharged from hospital within 48 hours. She was worried about her ability to shower alone, let alone walk 20 metres or drive herself to her dialysis treatment, which she needs three times a week to stay alive. Her story had been clearly outlined to the paper-pushers. But they still asked me for a specialist letter. So which specialist? The kidney specialist who can talk about the renal failure? The joint specialist who will only write that she can walk 100 metres usually? Or the surgeon who didn't have time to write the letter himself? I went with the surgeon – and wrote it for him, emailing it to his secretary for his scribble at the bottom. Emma Skowronski says as a GP she plays a key role in co-ordinating care for her patients with complex problems The Royal College of General Practitioners has been running a campaign highlighting the specialist role GPs play in our health system. Many studies show the health dollar is most economically spent in general practice, because the GP plays a key role in co-ordinating care for patients just like mine. People with complex problems have many specialists and someone needs to act as the medical linchpin, holding the patient's various medical concerns together with the information about their home situation, their family background and the personal details about their lives they may not have shared with anyone else. More often than not, it is your GP who will go in to bat for you when the system fails to recognise how all those little boxes actually play out in your life. We need people with medical backgrounds to sit on advisory boards and shine a light on the reality of health problems – how they play out in the lives of the people at the other end of the paper trail. And we need GPs to be recognised as the specialists we are. We are the ones with a comprehensive understanding of the health and situation of our patients. Our testimony should be enough to get them the services they need. No more boxes. It is time for compassion. amp.smh.com.au/comment/gps-need-to-be-recognised-as-the-specialists-they-are-20180207-h0v5iv.html
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Post by Banjo on Feb 8, 2018 6:58:35 GMT 7
I suppose that Centrelink likes to have assessment decisions made by their employees, they're easier to pressure than a GP.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2018 7:00:01 GMT 7
This highlights the continuing and growing frustration that our GPs are experiencing daily. I spoke to a GP last week and asked What the AMA was proposing to do to combat GPs being undermined so. Hes reply was one which I found a bit perplexing, he said maybe they have there own political agenda, I left it at that but he was clearly distressed. something has got to give and I believe the tide is slowly turning, will it all happen in time for myself and others whom find ourselves in difficult political times, maybe. One thing is for sure the Federal government knows that undermining GPs furthers their agenda. l naively believed the agenda was personal, it isn't. It is pure and simple economics the bottom line $.
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Post by Banjo on Feb 8, 2018 7:20:16 GMT 7
Political alignmentThe AMA is conservative in orientation. Two of its former presidents entered party politics as Liberals: Bill Glasson ran twice for the Liberals in Queensland and Brendan Nelson was a one-time leader of the Liberal Party. This does not mean the AMA always gives Coalition governments a free ride. The immediate past president of the AMA, Brian Owler was vociferous in leading AMA opposition to the 2014 budget cuts to health care, the proposed introduction of a co-payment, and funding cuts to Indigenous health care. He also voiced concerns about the medical treatment of asylum seekers. These “progressive views” were cited as an issue by newly elected AMA President Michael Gannon, who is looking to “build bridges” with what he expects will be a returned Turnbull government. If Labor were to win the election, an AMA president who proudly proclaimed his friendship with Liberal politicians may not find building bridges so easy. theconversation.com/patient-advocate-or-doctors-union-how-the-ama-flexes-its-political-muscle-60444
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Post by mspurple on Feb 8, 2018 7:23:27 GMT 7
I have just seen my doctor this morning, he had a grump about this sort of thing today.
It is absolutely pathetic that a GP needs to get authorisation from an untrained person to be able to complete certain tasks in their job.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2018 7:47:57 GMT 7
Political alignmentThe AMA is conservative in orientation. Two of its former presidents entered party politics as Liberals: Bill Glasson ran twice for the Liberals in Queensland and Brendan Nelson was a one-time leader of the Liberal Party. This does not mean the AMA always gives Coalition governments a free ride. The immediate past president of the AMA, Brian Owler was vociferous in leading AMA opposition to the 2014 budget cuts to health care, the proposed introduction of a co-payment, and funding cuts to Indigenous health care. He also voiced concerns about the medical treatment of asylum seekers. These “progressive views” were cited as an issue by newly elected AMA President Michael Gannon, who is looking to “build bridges” with what he expects will be a returned Turnbull government. If Labor were to win the election, an AMA president who proudly proclaimed his friendship with Liberal politicians may not find building bridges so easy. theconversation.com/patient-advocate-or-doctors-union-how-the-ama-flexes-its-political-muscle-60444 Interesting article, I found this to peak my interest even more, thanks for the link. The AMA was formed in 1962 with the merger of the Australian branches of the British Medical Association. It now has around 30,000 members, about 30% of the medical profession. This is a significant decline from its heyday 50 years ago when almost all medical practitioners were members (if only to receive its academic publication, the Medical Journal of Australia).
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2018 10:11:07 GMT 7
I suppose that Centrelink likes to have assessment decisions made by their employees, they're easier to pressure than a GP. Granted; but it will never excuse their conduct of undermining a client's own Medical Professional in order to achieve a negative outcome. That's just Sheer Bastardy being exercised by their Political Masters in order to pursue their own agenda of vilification against the most vulnerable in the community. As Andrew Wilkie outlined in his speech yesterday; Australia is second/ third behind the Swiss in personal wealth. This approach should be unconscionable to all fair minded Aussies. Cheers bear
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2018 10:58:24 GMT 7
The GP ban on DSP claims is really the reason unfair amounts of rejected claims happen. These bureaucrats and people in government are fools. Rorting doesn't happen to the extent they think especially after the 2012 tables came in. Reinstate GPs treating doctor form would be a start.
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