Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Dr Nicole Higgins said the skill of general practice was knowing when not to make a referral, and bypassing that expertise would result in an influx of patients seeking specialist care.
“That consumer-driven demand will … move us to that US-style system where there they don’t have GPs, where people can go to whichever health professionals they wish,” she said. “The concern is, in the Australian system, that’s going to blow out those waiting times even more.”
Dr Omar Khorshid, an orthopaedic surgeon and former Australian Medical Association president, said he didn’t expect a “massive flood” of referrals from chiropractors or physiotherapists but was concerned the change would further erode the role of the GP as a co-ordinator of care.
“[Visiting the GP] doesn’t always meet the expectations of patients, but the way to fix that is not to further undermine general practice, it’s actually to invest in it.”
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