Major $2.2bn Medicare overhaul welcomed but medical association warns budget will be ‘real test’

Medical groups have praised the $2.2bn Medicare overhaul announced by national cabinet but warned there is more to do to fix the nation's ailing general practice and hospital systems.

National cabinet committed nearly $1.5bn in new funding to overhaul Medicare, as part of a $2.2bn health plan to boost the number of nurses, increase after-hours care and expand the roles of pharmacists and paramedics.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the 9 May federal budget would include extra funding to incentivise GPs to stay open later, as well as to boost the nursing workforce. Pharmacists and nurses would be encouraged to undertake "top of scope" duties.

But the Australian Medical Association president, Prof Steve Robson, said the May budget would be a "real test for the commonwealth".

"It not only needs to deliver funding to support long-term reform of general practice, it must also deliver an immediate injection of funding into general practice to ensure it remains viable and GP services are accessible and affordable," Robson said.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) also backed the changes, but urged national cabinet to do more to remove red tape and streamline recruitment processes for overseas doctors.

The health minister, Mark Butler, said the health changes would include allowing pharmacists to give jabs under the national immunisation program and to deliver the PBS opioid dependence treatment program.

States and territories will announce plans to expand the scope of paramedics and nurses, and the federal government wants to attract 500 nurses back into primary healthcare and support training places for 6,000 more.

A new "MyMedicare" patient identification system will be introduced in a bid to determine why some people may regularly attend emergency rooms - Albanese suggested reasons such as alcohol or mental health problems.

A long-mooted plan for funding blended healthcare, or multidisciplinary teams of experts to address complex needs, will begin in the 2023-24 financial year. Butler said this would include strengthening the role of primary health networks in commissioning allied health and nursing services, plus flexible funding for practices to "employ or contract a range of health professionals".

The total package is valued at $2.2bn, which includes the $750m previously committed in the government's "strengthening Medicare" pledge.

"This $2.2bn package of measures will address immediate challenges in primary care, take pressure off the hospital system, and lay the foundations for long-term Medicare reform," Albanese said.

National cabinet will hold a special health reform-focused meeting later this year.

The RACGP immediately backed the package, saying support for doctors' surgeries to remain open longer would reduce pressure on hospitals. Its president, Dr Nicole Higgins, said more work was needed to fast-track doctors from overseas and noted rural and remote areas particularly struggled to attract doctors.

Both the RACGP and AMA also expressed concern at the plan to let pharmacists administer vaccines. The lobby groups have long pushed against plans to expand the role of pharmacies, saying jabs should be given by doctors, not chemists.

"The RACGP is right behind GPs working hand in glove with a range of allied health professionals including pharmacists, and we believe that they should be supported within general practice," Higgins said.

Robson and the AMA praised the expansion of blended funding models for complex care, but said they wanted more details on how it would work.

National cabinet also commissioned housing ministers to work on a plan for strengthening renters' rights nationally. Albanese stressed this would not lead to "uniform" tenancy laws, because they were managed by states, but he noted some jurisdictions like Queensland were looking at caps on how often or by how much rents could increase by.

The government needs the support of the Greens for its signature $10bn housing affordability future fund (HAFF) policy. The minor party has resisted supporting the plan, wanting it to go far further in providing support for the rental and housing crisis, and urged Albanese to ask national cabinet to impose a freeze on rent increases.

After the meeting, the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, claimed that a rent freeze was "on the table". But federal sources said this was not the case, maintaining that a rent freeze would not be practical, and that housing ministers would look at providing more certainty for renters' rights, not capping their payments.

The federal and state governments would also put $720m into boosting the capability of the national disability insurance scheme (NDIS). Albanese said the current growth in spending on the program was "just not sustainable into the future".

A new NDIS financial sustainability framework was agreed at the meeting, with a new annual growth target of 8% in the scheme's total costs by July 2026.

Albanese noted that the annual growth in the NDIS was expected to be 4% when the scheme first launched, but had grown far beyond that figure. He noted instances of fraud and providers inflating costs of equipment that would be covered under the scheme.