The prognosis for Australia’s challenged GP sector

General Practitioners (GPs) are playing an increasingly crucial role on the front lines of primary care, which accounts for more than 35 per cent of the health sector’s total $A162 billion annual expenditure.

The University of Melbourne and ANZ have produced a new research report to analyse key trends, including funding challenges and demographic changes in the workforce influencing the structure of the sector.

Professor Anthony Scott, Head of the Health Economics Research Program at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, sat down with BlueNotes to share key findings from the report.

Professor Anthony Scott: Increasing workforce participation by women is a general global trend reflecting increased economic growth, women having children later in life and having fewer children, and improvements in childcare provision. In the healthcare system, female patients would often rather see female doctors.

General practice in particular offers more flexible and part-time working compared to working in a hospital, that also attracts more women.

However, female GPs earn around 25 per cent less than males after accounting for differences in hours worked and female GPs’ careers are more disrupted by having children, in terms of reduced workforce participation.

This makes it difficult for smaller GP-owned practices to compete as they may lose patients to corporate clinics, as most (corporate clinics) also bulk-bill.

But patients may have to travel further if there are fewer larger clinics in their area, they may find it harder to see the same GP all of the time and so continuity of care could be an issue.

Aside from ownership, consolidation and mergers of providers in any industry tends to reduce competition and so is a cause for concern and monitoring.