Dr Anita Muñoz

Protecting GP-Led Care

Tag: General Practice

  • The Future of General Practice: What matters most to Australian GPs

    The Future of General Practice: What matters most to Australian GPs

    What should the next RACGP President understand about the pressures facing general practice, and what should members expect them to do about them?

    That was the focus of A GP Town Hall: The Future of Primary Care, hosted by Dr Anita Sharma through United Clinical.

    Importantly, the agenda wasn’t set by us. It was shaped by questions and priorities raised by GPs ahead of the Town Hall and what matters most to Australian GPs.

    Across the discussion, the same issues came through clearly: the financial sustainability of general practice, administrative burden, workforce and training, equitable access and continuity of care, increasingly complex patient needs, and the need to strengthen the voice, identity and standing of our profession.

    These are different challenges, but they are also deeply connected.

    Funding Must Recognise the Value of General Practice

    General practice is being asked to manage more complexity, coordinate more care and keep more patients well in the community.

    Funding has not kept pace with that reality.

    We need a serious conversation about what high-quality general practice is worth, including longer and more complex consultations, mental health care, multimorbidity and the work that happens outside the consultation room.

    Affordability matters. So does the viability of the practices patients rely on.

    We should not accept a system that treats those two things as mutually exclusive.

    Give GPs Clinical Time Back

    Administrative and regulatory burden was another clear concern.

    Accountability and appropriate regulation are important. But complexity for its own sake takes time away from patients and contributes to frustration across the profession.

    We need clearer systems, less unnecessary duplication and Medicare rules that GPs can reasonably understand and apply.

    Reducing red tape isn’t about reducing standards. It’s about allowing GPs to spend more of their time doing the work they are trained to do.

    Build a Profession Doctors Want to Join and Stay In

    The GP workforce conversation needs to go beyond workforce numbers.

    We need general practice to be a career that medical graduates actively choose, registrars are excited to enter and experienced GPs can sustain.

    That means properly recognising the expert generalist. It means supporting supervisors and practices that train the next generation. It means valuing rural generalism and recognising the enormous contribution of international medical graduates to Australian healthcare.

    And it means addressing the structural and financial pressures that make it harder for GPs to remain in the profession they love.

    Improve Access Without Sacrificing Continuity

    Access matters, particularly for rural and regional communities and patients experiencing disadvantage.

    But access cannot be measured only by whether someone can obtain an appointment somewhere in the health system.

    Continuity matters too.

    Fragmented care creates its own costs and risks, particularly for patients with chronic illness, multimorbidity and complex needs.

    As we build new models of care, we need to ask whether they strengthen the relationship between patients and their usual GP or further fragment it.

    Multidisciplinary Care Should Remain GP-Led

    Modern general practice increasingly involves multidisciplinary teams, and that presents enormous opportunities.

    But multidisciplinary should not mean fragmented.

    GPs are trained as expert generalists to work with uncertainty, undifferentiated illness and multimorbidity. That expertise matters when someone needs to hold the complete clinical picture and coordinate care across different professionals and services.

    I support multidisciplinary care. I also believe strongly that its clinical governance should remain GP-led.

    Respect and Recognition Must Translate Into Action

    One of the strongest themes running through the Town Hall was respect and recognition for general practice.

    For me, those words have to mean something.

    Respect is reflected in how governments involve GPs in decisions about primary care.

    Recognition is reflected in whether funding values the complexity and expertise of our work.

    Trust is built when the profession has a genuine seat at the table and when its representatives are prepared to advocate clearly for members.

    The College should be a constructive partner to government, but constructive advocacy does not mean politely agreeing with every decision.

    We go to government to represent our members, bring evidence, offer solutions and argue for better outcomes.

    That is the kind of advocacy I believe general practice needs.

    Watch A GP Town Hall: The Future of Primary Care

    The complete Town Hall and individual Q&A discussions are available to watch on YouTube.

    The series explores:

    • Funding, Value & Practice Viability
    • Administrative & Regulatory Burden
    • Workforce, Training & Wellbeing
    • Access, Equity & Continuity
    • Complexity & System Integration
    • Voice, Identity & Trust

    You can watch individual conversations on the issues that matter most to you, or watch the full Town Hall as one long-form discussion.

    General practice is facing significant challenges, but I remain optimistic about our future.

    We know many of the problems. We also know many of the solutions.

    What matters now is having the leadership, advocacy and collective resolve to turn those solutions into outcomes.

  • Protecting GP-Led Care Starts With Respect

    Protecting GP-Led Care Starts With Respect

    A Practical Plan to Strengthen GP-Led Care

    General practice is the foundation of Australia’s healthcare system, yet too often the value of a GP is overlooked in funding decisions, public discussion and health reform.

    If elected RACGP President, my first priority will be protecting GP-led care through respect and recognition.

    That means:

    • advocating for fairer funding
    • recognising the unique value of expert generalism
    • supporting International Medical Graduates and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander doctors
    • ensuring future reforms strengthen rather than diminish the role of general practice.

    I’ve published my first Vision to Action page, outlining the practical actions I will pursue to deliver this priority.

    Whether you’re interested in the overall vision or the detailed policy approach, I hope you’ll take a few minutes to explore it.

    Watch the 30-second overview video
    Read the full Priority in Action Plan

    Together, we can ensure general practice remains respected, valued and at the centre of patient care.

  • Stop Scapegoating General Practice

    Stop Scapegoating General Practice

    Australia’s Healthcare System Cannot Keep Asking General Practice to do More With Less.

    General practice is expected to solve more health problems than ever before. Yet year after year, governments have shifted funding away from primary care while increasing investment elsewhere in the health system.

    At the same time, GPs are increasingly criticised for problems created by policy decisions outside our control. That isn’t fair to the profession and ultimately it isn’t good for patients.

    Funding Has Shifted Away From General Practice

    The evidence tells a concerning story:

    • Successive governments have taken general practice funding from 8% of the health budget in 2003 down to 5.5% in 2026.
    • Government spending on hospitals increased by around 30% per person between 2014 and 2023, while spending on general practice remained essentially flat.
    • This year, general practice received just a 2.6% Medicare indexation increase while practice costs have risen by around 5%.

    General practice continues to deliver accessible, comprehensive and cost-effective care, yet its share of health funding continues to shrink.

    “General Practice cannot continue to carry more responsibility while receiving less investment.”

    GPs Are Being Blamed for Problems They Didn’t Create

    Instead of addressing years of underinvestment, governments increasingly point to general practice as though it is failing patients.

    Last year, the Federal Government removed Medicare mental health item numbers from general practice while simultaneously funding alternative services delivered outside traditional GP care.

    At the same time, expectations placed on GPs continue to grow, despite funding failing to keep pace with inflation, workforce pressures and the increasing complexity of patient care.

    When policy decisions make it harder for GPs to deliver care, it is unreasonable to blame the profession for the consequences.

    The Answer Isn’t Replacing GPs

    Rather than strengthening general practice, governments have increasingly expanded prescribing roles for pharmacists, nurses and paramedics without first addressing the underlying funding and workforce challenges facing primary care.

    Every member of the healthcare workforce has an important role to play.

    But fragmenting care is not a substitute for investing in the clinicians who provide comprehensive, continuous and coordinated care across a patient’s lifetime.

    Patients deserve healthcare reforms that are guided by evidence, safety and quality, not by short-term political solutions.

    “Stop Blaming GPs for Policy Failures. Start Investing in the Part of Healthcare That Delivers the Greatest Value.”

    Invest in the Care That Delivers Better Outcomes

    Strong general practice keeps people healthier, reduces unnecessary hospital admissions and provides continuity of care that no other part of the health system can replicate.

    If governments genuinely want a more sustainable healthcare system, they must stop treating general practice as a cost to be managed and start recognising it as the foundation of Australia’s healthcare system.

    Australia should also learn from overseas health systems where decades of underinvestment in primary care have contributed to increased hospital demand, longer waiting times and poorer patient access. We should avoid repeating those mistakes.

    General practice is not the problem.

    It is one of the most important solutions.

VOTING IS NOW OPEN

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