❓ Mr. Cook questions the Minister for Health regarding potential emergency department co-payments in response to federal GP co-payment proposals, citing concerns about contravention of the National Healthcare Agreement. The Minister deflects, stating speculation is premature until the federal proposal is finalized.
AnsweredQoN 304Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT VISITS — PROPOSED
CO-PAYMENT
304. Mr R.H. COOK to the
Minister for Health:
I refer to the Premier's comments in the media
earlier this week, stating that Western Australia may need to consider a
payment for patients visiting an emergency department should the federal
government implement co-payments for general practitioner visits.
(1) Can the
minister confirm that a payment to visit an emergency department will be in
contravention of the National Healthcare Agreement 2012, which states that
emergency services in public hospitals should be free of charge and on the
basis of clinical need?
(2) If so, how
will the government implement a payment for patients needing care at an
emergency department?
CO-PAYMENT
304. Mr R.H. COOK to the
Minister for Health:
I refer to the Premier's comments in the media
earlier this week, stating that Western Australia may need to consider a
payment for patients visiting an emergency department should the federal
government implement co-payments for general practitioner visits.
(1) Can the
minister confirm that a payment to visit an emergency department will be in
contravention of the National Healthcare Agreement 2012, which states that
emergency services in public hospitals should be free of charge and on the
basis of clinical need?
(2) If so, how
will the government implement a payment for patients needing care at an
emergency department?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2)
I was asked this question by the media either yesterday or the day before, and
my response to them was the same as now; that is, until the federal government's
proposal is decided on and made public, there is not much point in speculating
on what we may or may not do. The Premier made the point that if the federal
government imposes a fee that results in a significant number of patients who
would otherwise be general practitioner patients—categories 4 and 5—coming
to us at the hospital, we may have to look at a commensurate fee to match that.
We have general practitioner clinics running in our hospitals that are mostly
under contract. I think there is one in the member for Kwinana's area,
at Rockingham General Hospital. We pay a division of general practice to manage
that. If those GP clinics are seeing more patients as a result of those
changes, it may be that those GP clinics will instigate the same fee,
remembering that a lot of their work is currently bulk-billed to the
commonwealth government. But we will worry about that when the time comes; it
is no good making guesses on something that we will find out about next week.
I was asked this question by the media either yesterday or the day before, and
my response to them was the same as now; that is, until the federal government's
proposal is decided on and made public, there is not much point in speculating
on what we may or may not do. The Premier made the point that if the federal
government imposes a fee that results in a significant number of patients who
would otherwise be general practitioner patients—categories 4 and 5—coming
to us at the hospital, we may have to look at a commensurate fee to match that.
We have general practitioner clinics running in our hospitals that are mostly
under contract. I think there is one in the member for Kwinana's area,
at Rockingham General Hospital. We pay a division of general practice to manage
that. If those GP clinics are seeing more patients as a result of those
changes, it may be that those GP clinics will instigate the same fee,
remembering that a lot of their work is currently bulk-billed to the
commonwealth government. But we will worry about that when the time comes; it
is no good making guesses on something that we will find out about next week.
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