The Pharmacy Guild of Australia has launched a stinging attack on GPs, accusing them of running “five-minute medicine, turnstile operations”.

As the nation’s politicians ramp up their undeclared federal election campaign, the guild seems to have begun a full-frontal war of words on general practice.

This week David Heffernan, the guild’s NSW president, declared increasing investment in general practice would be a “disaster” for the MBS budget because it would encourage five-minute medicine.

“Gone are the days where a GP would turn up on your doorstep in their dressing gown and doctor’s bag,” he writes in his latest column for the guild’s newsletter.