GPs are calling for Medicare to fund a specific care plan item for victims of domestic violence in an attempt to keep them and their families safe from harm.

Professor Kelsey Hegarty says the item would work in similar ways to mental health treatment plans, allowing GPs longer consultations to assess and document the needs and safety of survivors.

The director of the Safer Families Centre of Research Excellence at Melbourne University said the plans would then provide access to 10 subsidised sessions for counselling with social workers and psychologists with expertise in domestic violence.

“Women who’ve been abused are often isolated and don’t have anybody that they’re allowed to go and see, but they’re usually allowed to see a GP,” she told Australian Doctor.