QUICK FACTS
- GPs are the frontline of our health system - everyday heroes treating Tasmanians every day from colds and flu and scripts to chronic illness and making life-saving diagnoses.
- GPs are finding it harder to stay in business, especially in ‘thin markets’ where they need to bulk bill the majority of patients.
- 40 per cent of ED presentations are Tasmanians who need to see a GP.
- New State-funded, State-employed GPs NOW Rapid Response Unit to deploy to local areas when they’re needed, and quickly, like GP closures at short notice.
- Up to $100,000 in HECS fees reimbursed, to attract up to 40 new GPs to Tasmania in rural and regional areas for five years.
- Up to $250,000 per annum in multi-year funding for GPs to remain viable and grow.
- Recruit two GPs with Special Interests, for a new specialist service to diagnose and manage children with ADHD.
- A fully-equipped mobile GP clinic, delivering bulk-billed GP and nurse practitioner health care to Tasmanians in the Greater Hobart area from New Norfolk to Clarendon Vale.
- Bid to the Australian Government for more Urgent Care Centres in Sorell, Kingston, Bridgewater, Burnie and Launceston.
- Single Employer GP model for GP trainees to remain - encouraging more doctors to become GPs.
- In-home GP-led Community Rapid Response to continue providing more than 4000 visits per month.
Under our 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania’s Future, a re-elected majority Liberal Government will:
- Stand up a team of 10 GPs as part of a new GP NOW Rapid Response Team
- Pick up the HECS debt up to $100,000 to attract 40 new GPs to work in rural and regional areas for five years.
- Partner with GPs to strengthen and sustain their practices.
- Deliver a new GP specialist service for children with ADHD.
- Extend the trial of a new bulk-billed mobile GP clinic, delivering up to 4500 additional appointments a year from 2024.
- Not change the current payroll tax arrangements for genuinely contracted GPs.
- Deliver more bulk-billed Urgent Care Centres.
- Continue the Single Employer Model for GPs in training.
- Continue the GP-led Community Rapid Response Service.
An important part of our 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania's Future is all about taking more action, right now, on issues affecting Tasmanians, particularly health.
As part of our 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania's Future, a re-elected majority Government will not stand by and see Tasmanians go without access to GPs.
GPs are the frontline of health care, treating Tasmanians every day from colds and flu to chronic illness. They are the ones we rely on for the long haul.
The Federal Labor Government has failed GPs.
This has led to the closure of GP practices in regions - leaving Tasmanians without the health care they need.
Today, almost 40 per cent of ED presentations are from Tasmanians who need to see a GP, not the life-saving care of an Emergency Department.
Our GP Guarantee - more GPs and better access
A re-elected majority Liberal Government will step up, where the Federal Labor Government is letting us down.
GPs are finding it harder to stay in business, as Medicare has not kept pace.
We will continue to strongly urge the Australian Government to deliver better general practice health care and to strengthen Medicare for the long-term.
However, a re-elected majority Liberal Government will also deliver an Australian first GP Guarantee that will help ensure that when Tasmanians need a GP, they can see a GP.
To do that, we will:
Stand up a team of 10 GPs as part of a new GP NOW Rapid Response Team, that will ensure Tasmanians always have a local GP on hand.
A re-elected majority Liberal Government will immediately begin the recruitment of 10 GPs for a new GP NOW Rapid Response Unit ready to be deployed into local communities where and when needed.
The GP NOW Rapid Response Unit will be State-funded and State-employed.
They'll be made up of General Practitioners as well as GPs with Special Interests (GPSIs) and Rural Generalists, with the full support of the Tasmanian Health Service and its multidisciplinary workforce.
The Rapid Response Unit will be there to support 'thin market' areas where the private market has failed - where it's difficult for GPs to maintain a practice, or in areas where there is need, including sudden GP closures.
The Unit will not practice or operate in areas where private practice is operating successfully.
GP NOW will be deployed to local communities when and where they're needed, and quickly.
So in a situation where a GP practice closes down on short notice, our GP NOW team will be ready to fill the gap and ensure locals can still see a doctor.
The GP NOW Rapid Response Unit will also support our virtual care health services, will give support to rural GPs who work in our district hospitals where needed, and will have access to and back-up from immediate specialist assistance of MyEmergency Doctor, palliative care and pain specialists.
The Rapid Response Unit will also provide support direct into residential aged care, district hospitals and communities where there is reduced or impacted access to GPs.
Pick up the HECS debt up to $100,000 to attract 40 new GPs to work in rural and regional areas for five years
A re-elected majority Liberal Government will pick up the HECS tab of up to $100,000 for 40 new GPs who commit to working in the State for at least five years.
This is a direct incentive to attract doctors to work in Tasmania's rural and regional areas for five years.
It is a huge cash bonus that will help attract GPs to Tasmania, or give our locally-trained doctors that extra reason to work in their home State.
This will help attract up to 40 new GPs across our State in the areas they are most needed.
Partner with GPs in outer-urban, regional and rural Tasmania to strengthen and sustain their practices
A re-elected majority Liberal Government will support GPs to strengthen and sustain their practices by delivering multi-year grant funding for existing GP practices, up to $250,000 per annum.
The grants will be available for GPs primarily in rural and regional areas, however consideration will also be given to outer urban areas of need across the State.
The grants will be flexible. They could help GPs offer extended hours of service within their local community, embed nurse practitioners into their GP business model, offer added incentives to attract new doctors, change a GP practice model, or expand a GP practice with capital upgrades. The grants could also apply to nurse practitioner practices.
To further support GPs, we will allow direct referral of GP patients to our virtual@health care teams, which offer a range of in-home care options including for respiratory illnesses and geriatric care.
Deliver a new GP specialist service for children with ADHD
A re-elected majority Liberal Government will establish a new service to give families across Tasmania faster access to GPs with Special Interests who can diagnose and manage children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
This will be run by two GPs with Special Interests through our public outpatient clinics and enable collaboration with paediatricians where appropriate.
To enable these reforms, we commit to bringing legislation to Parliament which will allow GPs with the appropriate training to prescribe the necessary medication.
Extend the trial of a new bulk-billed mobile GP clinic, delivering up to 4500 additional appointments a year from 2024
A re-elected majority Liberal Government will provide additional funding for a newly established bulk-billed Mobile GP clinic in and around Hobart.
This fully-equipped mobile GP clinic will offer 4500 appointments each year, with care delivered by GPs and Nurse Practitioners.
That means an additional two years funding and an extra 9000 appointments following the end of the one-year trial funded by a Liberal State Government, which began in January 2024.
It will support many Tasmanians who don't have a regular GP or who do not attend a GP because of cost.
The program, delivered by the Moreton Group, will provide walk-in, bulk billed services in four-hourly clinics, five days a week and will operate on a rotating roster that visits Neighbourhood Houses in New Norfolk, Clarendon Vale, Gagebrook and Chigwell, and at the Salvation Army in Glenorchy and Flint House in New Town.
It will help reduce Emergency Department presentations at hospital and ambulance call-outs.
Subject to further evaluation, a re-elected majority Liberal Government would look to extend the Mobile GP Clinic state-wide.
No change to payroll tax arrangements
Under a re-elected majority Liberal Government, there will be no change to the existing payroll tax arrangements for genuinely independent contracting GPs.
This means that GPs who contract for the use of a room in a building, shared reception and nursing staff and currently do not pay payroll tax, will not be subject to payroll tax under a re-elected Liberal Government.
Deliver more bulk-billed Urgent Care Centres
Four Urgent Care Centres have begun operating in Tasmania – two in Hobart, one in Launceston and one in Devonport.
The Tasmanian Liberal Government has already partnered in one centre, and a fifth Urgent Care Centre at Newstead in Launceston has been solely funded by a Tasmanian Liberal Government.
A re-elected majority Liberal Government will work with the Australian Government to deliver more Urgent Care Centres in Tasmania.
We have already written to the Federal Labor Government seeking Centres in growing regional areas like Sorell, Kingston, Bridgewater, as well as in Burnie and Launceston - to get more Urgent Care Centres, as Tasmanians deserve.
Continue the Single Employer Model for GPs in training
The Single Employer model - developed by the Tasmanian Liberal Government - won Australian Government partnership funding and is already boosting the number of GPs in training, with 17 trainees now commenced in medical centres.
It aims to boost the number of GPs in rural and remote areas, helping GP trainees by giving them the same entitlements as hospital-based doctors in training, and a single contract and employer throughout their training years.
A re-elected majority Liberal Government will build on the success of this program by continuing it, seeking ongoing partnership with the Australian Government.
Continue the GP-led Community Rapid Response Service
This Liberal Government-funded initiative now delivers 4500 occasions of service each month to Tasmanians in their own homes or in their communities in three regions.
Community Rapid Response is a shared-care model between GPs and the Community Rapid Response multi-disciplinary team, to provide quality care for a range of chronic and complex illnesses, helping Tasmanians avoid hospital admission and provide better patient outcomes.
Net Cost: $31.95 million over four years