One of Australia’s biggest medical centre operators says the expansion of GP training places will not cover gaps left by retiring baby boomer GPs.
Primary Health Care employs more than 700 GPs at its 82 medical centres, many of which are large-scale operations that employ large numbers of baby boomers on the downhill run to retirement.
The company plans to lift GP numbers by 40 per cent this financial year but is worried that the federal government’s doubling of GP training positions for medical graduates from 600 to 1200 places a year will not meet the industry shortfall.
General manager of Primary’s medical centres Henry Bateman said the situation could reach crisis point within the next five to 10 years as baby boomer GPs hung up their stethoscopes.
“GPs are a scare resource,” he said.
“The government has gone some of the way to addressing this by having more GP placement training programs – they have doubled the number.
“They actually need to double it again because what they are not recognising is that the ageing of the population not only affects the number of people seeking health care but also the number of GPs available to provide care.”
Primary Health on Monday unveiled a 40 per cent drop in full year profit as the company, which also provides pathology and medical imaging services, felt the impact of the government’s $800 million industry funding cuts and fewer patients making appointments at its GP centres.
Net profit fell to $78.29 million for the 12 months to June 30 from $132 million a year earlier, while revenue rose two per cent to $1.322 billion.
Part of the company’s profit pain was inflicted by a $15 million drop in funding from the federal government for pathology services.
To offset the impact of the cuts, the company undertook a $34.7 million cost cutting program, including axing 290 jobs, during 2010/11.
In the year ahead the company hopes to lift dividend payments to shareholders, who saw their full year payout for 2010/11 drop to five cents from 10 cents.
Chief executive Dr Edmund Gregory Bateman said shareholders had shared the pain of the cost cuts with those who had lost their jobs in the cost cutting program.
“I think a material increase in dividends is well and truly justified,” he told analysts at a briefing in Sydney.
