Federal Health Minister Sussan Ley visited Bega on Monday to meet with people from a wide range of health professions as the government looks to change the way health is delivered in the area.
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“The easy thing to do is to keep the funding coming,” Ms Ley said.
“There will be tough decisions to make.”
During what Ms Ley called an “interactive forum” GPs, pharmacists, members of Medicare Local, Katungal Aboriginal Medical Service and other health services offered their concerns to the minister.
“This is really about good ideas coming forward,” she said.
“We will throw the pieces of paper in the air and see how they fall and can be improved.”
Ms Ley reassured a room of confused and anxious health professionals that she understood rural areas due to her time spent as the member for Farrer in Albury.
“I do understand rural communities, and that everywhere is different,” she said.
“When I was elected as health minister Peter [Hendy] was hot on the phone advising me that the GP co-payment was not going down well in his constituency.”
The minister heard from concerned GPs who confronted her about issues that affect the far south coast such as the affordability of medicine for the underprivileged, such as pensioners and the unemployed, and also the sustainability of small local practices.
“The economies of a three man practice as compared to a 10 man metropolitan practice are quite significant,” one concerned GP told Ms Ley.
Of concern to local GPs was the freezing of rebates, the complicated medical cases that are dealt with in a region with an ever aging population, and the fact that doctors have initially been made aware of government changes by the media and patients and not through what they thought were appropriate channels.
“I’m calling it a pause, not a freeze,” Ms Ley said concerning rebates.
Pharmacists shared their concerns over patients potentially losing out and paying more for some medicine as they move into the primary care space.
“We are looking to prove and entrench pharmacy into primary care,” Ms Ley said.
“Keeping people out of hospitals will help your budget and help my budget.
“It’s very important we keep older Australians happier in their own home.
She also reassured those present about the transition from the Southern NSW Medicare Local to the much larger Primary Health Network (PHN), adding that she hoped those who had worked with Medicare Local would be involved in the new PHN.
“Our expectation is that the entire population will experience the PHN,” Ms Ley said.
“We will not support a centralised system.”
