Access to cheaper PHO funding becomes ‘more equal’

16 July 2004

Access to cheaper PHO funding becomes ‘more equal’

The College of GPs has congratulated the Government on moving quickly to reduce the inequalities of access to the primary health care system.

Health Minister Annette King announced a significant roll forward of funding for the primary care sector at the College’s annual conference in Wellington today.

College president Dr Jim Vause congratulated the Minister on obtaining Cabinet approval for the funding package that will complete the rollout in just three years.

“Everyone will benefit in terms of their need,” Dr Vause said.

Welcoming the acommpanying benefits of the 18-25 access from next July, that will benefit areas like mental and sexual health, and the indexing of immunisation payments, Dr Vause said the detailed rollout better enabled doctors to plan for the future.

“Some of the compliance issues have been particularly hard with the burden falling on the GP. This will allow better planning, for instance, of the IT requirements, and it will removes the potential irritant of adjacent practices being unable to charge the same.”

Always supportive of the strategy, the College had advocated both implementation changes and rolling the funding forward from the original 10 years.

“They have listened to the sector and addressed some of the biggest concerns,” Dr Vause said, adding the Minister had worked tirelessly to achieve this change.

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