P.M. rejects doctors’ G.M.S. rise

Press, 11 April 1984, Page 1

P.M. rejects doctors’ G.M.S. rise

PA Wellington Doctors, in a last-ditch attempt to gain an increase in the general medical services benefit, came away empty-handed from a meeting with the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Muldoon, at Parliament last evening. Asked if the delegation of four from the Medical Association had been given any hint of a benefit increase by Sir Robert, its chairman, Dr Dean Williams, said, “I think the Prime Minister has listened to our answers with care and with consideration, and that is as far as I can go at this stage.”

No assurance that the G.M.S. level would be re-

viewed was given at the meeting, he said. Sir Robert would not see journalists after the 50-min-ute meeting, saying through his press officer that he had nothing to add to what the doctors would say. However, when asked in writing if the meeting had made him more sympathetic to a rise in the benefit, frozen at $1.25 since 1972, Sir Robert replied, “No.” Dr Williams said the “friendly and straightforward” discussion had concentrated on the benefit, which the association had campaigned to have raised for more than a year, but Sir Robert had mentioned that he was concerned about

reports of excessive rises in doctors’ fees. Dr Williams said that although both fee and benefit increases were mentioned, the two issues were not linked “in any true sense.” The association was just as concerned as the Prime Minister about “inappropriate” price rises, he said. Any fee increases had to be justified on the basis of increased costs for any doctor, he said. “The Prime Minister rightly said he would expect us to pass it (a G.M.S. increase) on to the patient, and as that has been our stance all along it is no problem to us,” Dr Williams said.