Doctors have blasted the Federal Government’s decision to scrap dozens of MBS items for telephone consults, saying it will disadvantage vulnerable patients who don’t have easy access to videoconferencing.

The government revealed on on Monday it was removing Medicare funding for level C and level D phone consults, along with the phone-based items for chronic disease management plans and health assessments.

It means that from July 1, just two GP phone items will remain, with rebates of $17.75 for consults lasting up to six minutes and $38.75 for those longer than six minutes.

However, funding for MBS video consults will also remain untouched for the time being.