A contingent of GPs visited NSW parliament to break down the key health issues impacting the state.
All the talk of scope expansion for general practice may be coming to fruition, with NSW MPs meeting with GPs today for talks on health reforms.
This marks the second RACGP-led health check at NSW parliament and allows for MPs to not only receive a checkup but also converse with GPs advocating for issues facing general practice, including prescribing powers for the acne drug isotretinoin.
“New South Wales’ 13,000 GPs are ready to step up to keep our patients healthy,” RACGP NSW and ACT Chair Dr Rebekah Hoffman said.
“We’re visiting Parliament to give MPs and our state’s primary health system a checkup.
“There are commonsense reforms and smart, targeted preventive health investments MPs can make that’ll pay dividends for our health system.”
Isotretinoin prescribing powers have become a spark point in the GP scope of practice discussion, with the RACGP arguing that the drug’s side effects are already a core part of GP care.
The acne drug has the side effect of significantly harming a foetus if prescribed to pregnant patients.
“It absolutely makes sense that if we’re having those conversations around contraception, we also should be able to prescribe the acne medication,” Dr Hoffman told DR.
“The GP is also where most of our contraception occurs, and most of the dermatologists prescribing Roaccutane are sending back to the GP to prescribe long term reversible contraception and to have conversations around contraception.
“Particularly in rural and regional parts of the country, accessing a dermatologist is nigh impossible and incredibly expensive.
“This is an unnecessary piece of legislation that needs to be changed to ensure that GPS can prescribe this medication.”
The RACGP has announced the four key reform areas that will be discussed with MPs, primarily focusing on expansion of scope and greater support for regional and rural health.
- Expanding access to influenza, meningococcal B and RSV vaccines along with free MenB vaccinations for infants and teens and free RSV vaccines for over-50s.
- Focusing on doctor retention for remote communities via the funding of locums to cover GPs in the remote NSW to ensure workload sustainability.
- Allowing the prescription of oral isotretinoin by GPs for severe acne so patients can access care, while alleviating pressure on dermatologists
- Introducing greater supports for GPs during natural disasters in recognition of general practice as a key service in providing physical and mental health care during crises.
These issues have seen extensive calls for reform made before with the MP meeting positioned to further the push on action.
“There’s an absolute absence of knowledge around the general public about how awesome GPs are with what we can do, particularly in the preventive health space, which is where I think GPs can thrive,” Dr Hoffman told Dermatology Republic.
“We all know that GPs can order MRIs safely, and we can prescribe certain medications safely, but it’s the red tape, and often the legislation that stops us doing that.
“It’s not even so much of a ‘can GPs do it?’ but a ‘can we do it without the ridiculous unnecessary paperwork?’, which is often attributed to those extra steps.”
