Minister gets ‘reminder’ from doctors

Press, 5 September 1988, Page 6

Minister gets ‘reminder’ from doctors

By

SARAH SANDS

As the Minister of Health, Mr Caygill, considers the future of primary health care, the General Practitioner Society has gone on the offensive by publishing what it says may be a confidential Treasury paper on the reforms.

The paper, “Reform of the Primary Health Care System — the Primary Medical Service Component,” is dated May 26, and is reproduced in the August edition of the society’s journal. Marked confidential, it suggests such reforms as greater subsidies for general practitioner visits and increased charges on prescriptions, maternity visits and laboratory tests. The journal’s editor, Dr Jim Kelly, said last evening that the paper had been reproduced to remind the Minister of the society’s concerns about primary health care reforms. "We have already told the Minister of our concerns but in case it has slipped his mind we thought we would remind him.” Family doctors also needed to consider proposals being made for the future, said Dr Kelly. Mr Caygill said last evening that he hoped to

make an announcement about primary health care later this month. “The Cabinet has yet to make final decisions on matters that I have put to it. “When we have done so (made decisions) people will be able to judge for themselves whether they think we have done the right thing.” Mr Caygill said that as-

suming the document reproduced in the society’s journal was a Treasury paper, it was not the only material the Cabinet had in front of it to consider. Several Treasury papers with proposals about primary health care had been produced, he said. In the journal, Dr Kelly said that general practitioners had to consider whether the proposals would provide a better medical care system than the old General Medical Services. “Is the main aim to make medical care more easily available for patients, or to control G.P.s? If patient costs are transferred from G.P. charges to pharmaceuticals (prescriptions) will it make health care any easier or cheaper for patients?” Dr Kelly said last evening that the society would take the proposals further with the Minister.