Hospital failure blame game rages on as doctors call for more resources
Queensland’s GPs say the state government needs to take responsibility for public hospital capacity pressures, after the deputy premier linked them to the problem.
Steven Miles said earlier this week that emergency department waiting times and ambulance ramping had increased because more patients with respiratory issues were going to public hospitals after being turned away by GPs fearful of Covid-19.
But the deputy premier later backtracked saying his comments, made to reporters in Cairns on Thursday, were taken out of context and thanked GPs for their hard work.
Queensland GP Alliance chair Dr Matt Masel said Miles was trying to shift blame from his own governmentās failures.
āThe deputy premier has claimed that he was taken out of context on Wednesday and that people canāt get appointments with their GPs or that GPs are too expensive or too far away,ā Masel said in a statement on Friday.
āHe blames the federal government for not investing in general practice. On that we can agree with him. Funding for access to primary care is inadequate.
āBut the Queensland government needs to fix hospitals and not try to shift blame.ā
Masel called for incentives for GPs to work across both metropolitan and regional centres to address shortages.
General practice needed to be more attractive to medical graduates, but that has been hindered by both levels of government making it financially difficult for patients to access GP care.
The Australian Medical Association Queensland also rejected Mr Milesā comments, calling him reckless for trying to blame GPs for issues at public hospitals.
Stay informed, daily
AMAQ President Dr Chris Perry said instead acting on doctorās warnings about mounting capacity pressures, Mr Miles made unfounded claims about GPs turning away suspected Covid-19 patients.
āGPs are continuing to care for respiratory patients around the state,ā he said.
Health Minister Yvette DāAth said earlier this week capacity pressures were being caused by virus patients and health staff isolating, long-stay patients who couldnāt be discharged because they lacked access to home care and capacity problems at GP clinics.
āWhen you canāt afford private health insurance, when you canāt get into private specialists, when you cannot access GPs, when you cannot get an NDIS package, when you cannot get the support you need in aged care, you turn to the public health system,ā she said.
DāAth called on the next federal government to match the stateās funding for healthcare on a 50-50 basis.
Want to see more stories from InDaily Qld in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily Qld as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily Qld". That's it.
