FAMILY DOCTORS TO GET ALMOST $14,000 RISE

Family doctors will pocket an annual pay rise of almost $14,000 as part of
Federal Government plans to improve treatment of asthma, diabetes, mental
illness and cervical cancer.

The Government also proposes to bolster health care in rural and regional
Australia by subsidising the employment of practice nurses in country
doctors"surgeries.

And it has earmarked $115.6 million for the setting up of an Alcohol
Education and Rehabilitation Foundation which would fund and research
programs aimed at reducing alcohol and other drug abuse.

These measures will be partly funded by excluding about 65,000 Australians
from access to taxpayer-subsidised drugs for lowering cholesterol levels.

The move is budgeted to save $103.9 million in four years.

The Federal Government expects to save another $90 million by abandoning
plans to help State governments supply methadone to privately treated drug
addicts.

The biggest innovation in this year's health budget is an extra $300.6
million over four years to encourage family GPs, if necessary, to spend
longer with patients.

Under the longer consultation plan, the Government has promised as yet
unfinalised increases to the $42.35 rebate for 20-40 minute consultations
and the $62.35 rebate for consultations of more than 40 minutes.

In a related move, an extra $120.4 million will be spent on encouraging
specially qualified GPs to treat patients with mental illnesses.

Patients will be offered a 12-consultation GP treatment program involving
specialist input from a psychologist or psychiatrist.

In further measures to reward GPs, they will be paid incentives to diagnose
patients with asthma or diabetes and encourage more women to undergo
cervical cancer screening.

The Budget papers noted that full-time GPs would get an extra $6100 a year
as a result of the increased rebates for longer consultations.

The paper said that with other measures announced in the Budget, the
average annual income of a full-time GP would increase about $13,900 a year.

Labor health spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said the big losers were cholesterol
patients and public hospitals.

She said cholesterol patients would have to pay up to $114 a month on
medicine which previously cost them $3.50.