AGPN blasted for role in ML reforms
6th Sep 2011 Byron Kaye all articles by this author
TWO
of AGPN’s highest profile directors have broken ranks with the
divisions body, using their board re-election bids to launch a stinging
criticism of its role in the controversial change to Medicare Locals
(MLs).
NSW GP Dr Arn Sprogis and South Australian GP Dr Rod Pearce, both proponents of the $417 million ML scheme and both up for re-election this week, told MO that AGPN had so far failed to press the government effectively on primary care spending.
Votes for the board elections, cast by representatives from individual divisions, were being counted as MO went to press.
Dr Sprogis’s candidate statement, published on AGPN’s website with those of Dr Pearce and four other contenders, says the organisation “must do much more to encourage a significantly increased investment in the ML process in real time.”
“I don’t accept that the outcomes and resources negotiated to this point are sufficient to meet the needs of the ML process,” Dr Sprogis wrote.
“For our communities to see real outcomes, greater government commitment is required.”
Dr Sprogis told MO that AGPN “should have argued, taken a much tougher line” to ensure the government built the ML network with the same “clear deliverables” as hospitals.
“It’s been very bad for the government that we haven’t put a stronger case, argued for it and [been] prepared to hold the line on it,” he said.
“It’s all about the organisations and organisational structure, and it doesn’t have anywhere enough about – and nothing that is clear enough about – doing things for our community and our patients. That’s the thing the reform process is missing.”
Dr Pearce’s candidate statement supported MLs, but he told MO he was concerned AGPN had been seen so far as a “mouthpiece for the government, rather than specifically putting forward what the grassroots GPs and grassroots divisions were saying”.
He said the organisation, which the government has invited to set up a new national body to oversee MLs, must listen “to what is needed from the grassroots”.
The new body must also “implement healthy dialogue... rather than it just being an agent for the department [of health] or an agent for the government”.
AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton, who is visiting MLs around Australia, said healthcare professionals in the first MLs were concerned their location-specific needs would not be addressed and that they had not been told about their role in the new system.
“The information isn’t getting through,” he said from South Australia’s Country North ML, which is bigger than the state of NSW and borders WA, NT, Queensland and NSW.
“Everybody’s concerned about the lack of GP input as well.”
The AGPN declined to comment on board election matters.
A spokesperson for Health Minister Nicola Roxon denied the suggestion the government was not adequately funding the reform, saying it “clearly ignores the approximately $2 billion the Gillard government is investing in this sector”.
NSW GP Dr Arn Sprogis and South Australian GP Dr Rod Pearce, both proponents of the $417 million ML scheme and both up for re-election this week, told MO that AGPN had so far failed to press the government effectively on primary care spending.
Votes for the board elections, cast by representatives from individual divisions, were being counted as MO went to press.
Dr Sprogis’s candidate statement, published on AGPN’s website with those of Dr Pearce and four other contenders, says the organisation “must do much more to encourage a significantly increased investment in the ML process in real time.”
“I don’t accept that the outcomes and resources negotiated to this point are sufficient to meet the needs of the ML process,” Dr Sprogis wrote.
“For our communities to see real outcomes, greater government commitment is required.”
Dr Sprogis told MO that AGPN “should have argued, taken a much tougher line” to ensure the government built the ML network with the same “clear deliverables” as hospitals.
“It’s been very bad for the government that we haven’t put a stronger case, argued for it and [been] prepared to hold the line on it,” he said.
“It’s all about the organisations and organisational structure, and it doesn’t have anywhere enough about – and nothing that is clear enough about – doing things for our community and our patients. That’s the thing the reform process is missing.”
Dr Pearce’s candidate statement supported MLs, but he told MO he was concerned AGPN had been seen so far as a “mouthpiece for the government, rather than specifically putting forward what the grassroots GPs and grassroots divisions were saying”.
He said the organisation, which the government has invited to set up a new national body to oversee MLs, must listen “to what is needed from the grassroots”.
The new body must also “implement healthy dialogue... rather than it just being an agent for the department [of health] or an agent for the government”.
AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton, who is visiting MLs around Australia, said healthcare professionals in the first MLs were concerned their location-specific needs would not be addressed and that they had not been told about their role in the new system.
“The information isn’t getting through,” he said from South Australia’s Country North ML, which is bigger than the state of NSW and borders WA, NT, Queensland and NSW.
“Everybody’s concerned about the lack of GP input as well.”
The AGPN declined to comment on board election matters.
A spokesperson for Health Minister Nicola Roxon denied the suggestion the government was not adequately funding the reform, saying it “clearly ignores the approximately $2 billion the Gillard government is investing in this sector”.
