NSW Labor says Bega District Hospital will be one of many regional hospitals put under pressure if the Federal Government’s $7 GP co-payment is implemented.
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Labor estimated an extra 2900 more patients each year will be forced into Bega’s emergency department.
The estimate is based on NSW Health modelling showing there will be a 27 per cent increase in emergency department admissions as patients will present for non-urgent treatment due to the GP co-payment.
The analysis by NSW Health has been backed by doctors and health groups who say a $7 Medicare fee for GP visits would be a disaster for the state's health system, blowing out emergency department waiting times and hurting society's sickest and poorest.
Official Bureau of Health Information data for 2013-14 showed 10,736 patients attended the emergency department at Bega District Hospital.
The NSW modelling predicts 2898 additional patients annually would use the hospital’s emergency department (ED) as they will be unable to afford the co-payment.
NSW Shadow Health Minister Walt Secord and Labor candidate for Bega Leanne Atkinson discussed the implications of the GP co-payment when they discussed health issues at the recent annual Country Labor conference in Queanbeyan.
“Thousands of people will be forced to turn up in emergency departments because they simply won't be able to afford paying this unfair tax to their local GP,” Ms Atkinson said.
“NSW hospitals and their staff will be stretched to handle the flood of patients that will result from the $7 GP tax.
“The GP tax is bad policy and is bad for families.
“We know [NSW Premier] Mike Baird has cut $3billion from our health system, and now Tony Abbott’s GP Tax and budget cuts are set to place extreme pressure on the public hospital system.”
The co-payment has been criticised by the Federal and NSW Labor Opposition, doctors, nurses, patients’ groups and the Australian Medical Association.
Earlier this year, the AMA website published a study that found if an additional four patients an hour turned up at NSW public hospitals because of their inability to afford the GP co-payment, the duration of an average emergency department visit would blow out from 5.6 to 8.5 hours.
Scenarios prepared for the NSW Government in May, obtained by NSW Labor, assumed a $6 co-payment, lower than the $7 fee later proposed by the Federal Government.
It found a potential increase in emergency department attendances "in the vicinity of 500,000", leading to increased costs of about $80million a year.
There were 2.6 million presentations to NSW emergency departments in 2012-13 - that figure would have jumped by 27 per cent under a $6 co-payment, the analysis found.
Following the budget in May, NSW Premier Mike Baird expressed concern about the $7 payment to visit a GP, saying "if it leads to long queues in emergency departments, well, that's not something that's sustainable".
The co-payment is among a host of budget measures whose passage through the Senate has been delayed due to a lack of support from Labor, the Greens and the Palmer United Party.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has previously signalled a compromise deal could be offered to ease the burden on pensioners.
Speaking at the opening of the Westmead Millennium Institute for Medical Research in Sydney last month, Mr Abbott said the GP fee would allow "investment in the treatment and cures of the future", by largely funding a $20billion Medical Research Future Fund.
"I say to the Labor Party and … the crossbenchers in the Senate, this is an important part of Australia's future," he said, accusing Labor of "playing politics" by opposing the controversial budget measure.
Mr Abbott pointed to an existing co-payment for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, saying "that hasn't produced a flood of people rushing into emergency departments or, if it has, it's something that emergency departments have learned to cope with".
