13 November 2009 Australia’s general practice ranked highly
Recognising general practice as central to the health care system, the Commonwealth Fund has released the results of a survey of more than 10 000 general practitioners in 11 countries. Conducted between February and July 2009, the survey examined health IT, access, chronic care, quality incentives, information feedback, and safety tracking.
Australia ranked highly in most key areas and is already doing well compared to the other nations in the survey.
Given our current climate of health reform it is worth noting that when it came to the question, ’Physician views of health system (2009)’, 71% of respondents felt that fundamental changes are needed compared with the 6% who feel that our system needs completely rebuilding and the 23% who feel only minor changes are required.
Strengthening teams and teamwork in general practice is a central element of health system reform. The use of such teams is highest in Sweden (98%), the UK (98%), and The Netherlands (91%) and lowest in France (11%). It is less prevalent in the USA (59%) and Canada (52%). Australia and New Zealand each came in at 88%.
Overall we also rank well in the use of the incentives identified to drive improvements in quality care.
Australian general practice ranked highly in quality measures, safety measures and rates of computerisation. Rates of clinical use of computers are very high (over 90% of Australian GPs surveyed use electronic medical records) with high use of clinical functions which support quality primary care.
Another stand out area was the high use rate of reminders and guidelines, reflecting efforts to provide tools to assist general practice.
While I’m sure most GPs would agree that there is still plenty to be done in the improvement of primary health care in this country, it is encouraging to see that, compared with many other countries, we have a strong and effective general practice sector.
One issue for Australian general practice from this report is around access – with GP supply falling by 2% since 2002 it’s not surprising access is of concern.
If we wish to resolve problems with access we need to be able to attract the next generation to general practice. We need a system that values our contributions, reduces red tape and sees real investment in general practice infrastructure. See the full survey at www.commonwealthfund.org.
M5 Project - RACGP men's health initiative helping men to help themselves
M5 encourages men and those who care about them to recognise the importance of men forming an ongoing relationship with a GP.
