Primary care involves more than GPs. A new review shows how patients can better access care

Medical Xpress November 5, 2024
Stephen Duckett, The Conversation

Australians today are more likely than previous generations to live with complex and chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease and depression.

This means they’re more likely to need health care from a variety of different providers, such as nurses, podiatrists, psychologists and physiotherapists, as well as GPs. This is known as “multidisciplinary care.” It works best when the skills of all these professions are available to the patient in a coordinated way.

But the roles of health professions, and the way they’re funded, have been frozen in legislation and policy for decades. Any change has been incremental and disjointed. It has mostly involved adding more items to the Medicare schedule, with each professional practicing separately.

The result has been...

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