What crisis? GP numbers are stronger than ever, says Grattan Institute
The pressure on the specialty is rooted in more complex presentations and a bad funding system, the think tank claims
The supply of GPs is not collapsing — in fact it’s stronger than it’s ever been and its only likely to grow, the Grattan Institute says.
The public policy think-tank declaration comes just weeks after the Federal Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler declared that general practice was facing its worst crisis since the beginning of Medicare.
“On balance, there is little to suggest that a significant decline in GP supply is causing current pressures, or that GP supply is structurally too low,” the Grattan report says.
Australia currently has 120 full-time equivalent GPs per 100,000 people compared with 108 per 100,000 in 2016 and just 70 in the 1980s, it said (see table below).
