A company’s report that concluded 20% of GP practices offer universal bulk-billing has prompted the Pharmacy Guild of Australia to urge patients to “Think pharmacy first” for treatment.

The guild was responding to a survey from Cleanbill, a GP fee listing site which uses contractors to ask practices about fees and whether non-concessional adult patients are bulk-billed for all standard consultations.

Published on Monday, the report concluded that 20% of practices offered universal bulk-billing compared with 25% a year ago.

Later that day, the guild put out a statement: “As the latest Cleanbill report outlines the cost and difficulty of seeing a GP, the [guild] is urging patients to ‘Think Pharmacy First’.”