A state AMA wants a single government healthcare funder to end the political squabbling and improve relationships between GP practices and public hospitals.

AMA Tasmania president Dr Michael Lumsden-Steel, an anaesthetist, says the radical move is necessary because of the “absolutely clear reality” that healthcare is not funded in a way that reflects patients’ needs.

“It is being funded on effectively what governments think is palatable to fund, particularly around elections,” Dr Lumsden-Steel says.

“It is different in different states. But in Tasmania, there is increasingly a gap between the co-ordination and resourcing of general practice and primary healthcare versus what the State Government spends on public hospitals and the services the public health system provides.”