Doctors say the ACT government is wasting almost $20,000 a day on a service with no documented public health benefits under the guise of free healthcare.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Australia's first nurse walk in centres - currently in Belconnen and Tuggeranong - were launched in the ACT in 2010 and have proved popular with the public.
The government has plans to open a further three more centres, with $13.5 million set aside in this year's budget for a clinic in Gungahlin.
But doctors say the cost to taxpayers of $188 per visit, compared to about $38 for a bulk billed GP visit, is a waste of resources and have led to some patients not seeing a doctor in years.
They say they allow government to appear to be providing free healthcare, while specialist appointment waiting times blow out.
Answering questions in ACT parliament health minister Meegan Fitzharris said there were on average 101 visits per day to the two centres currently open.
Each visit costs taxpayers $188 accounting to almost $19,000 a day.
Dr Thinus van Rensburg, of Tillyard Drive Medical Practice, said it was an unnecessary waste of taxpayer money which could be better spent addressing a chronic shortage of specialist appointments.
He said since the first centre opened in 2010 the GP workforce had expanded significantly and in Gungahlin, where the next centre will open, there are a number of clinics not at capacity which also bulk bill.
"Show me the research that was done as to how you've come to the conclusion this is working," he said.
"It is extraordinary that it could be considered appropriate to tie up 20 clinicians and some administrative staff in a role that is costing ACT taxpayers nearly $20,000 a day in order to see about a 100 people with minor matters such as cold & coughs.
"The majority of these people were seen during normal business hours and the prevalent advice for many years would have been for them to stay home and get well and not attend any sort of health practitioner with their cold"
Dr van Rensburg said some patients stopped seeing GPs altogether when Canberra's walk-in centres opened.
"Unless we contact them proactively, those patients don't come back," he said.
"There is plenty of research to show the importance of regular GP visits for general health."
His views were echoed by Gungahlin GP Dr Tim Watson who said the proposed new centres did not complement existing services but would treat patients who would otherwise we seen by GPs and practice nurses.
He said it was an attempt by the government to appear to provide the ACT community with free healthcare.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners NSW and ACT chair Dr Charlotte Hespe said said a better model of care would involve both GPs and nurses working together.
"I'd like to see the GPs in the ACT included in the discussion and less of an "us and them" concept," she said.
"We need to think about how the two groups work together to be a little more innovative.
"We would be more than happy to support a nurse only centre if it's solving a problem and is cheaper, but at the moment it isn't doing either."
While the initial idea behind the walk-in centres was to ease pressure on the emergency departments, figures in the two years after the first centre was opened in 2010 showed an increase in triage four and five patients in Canberra's emergency departments.
An ACT Health spokesman said walk-in centres offered a no-cost service in a market that has the lowest bulk billing rates in Australia and were not designed to work in collaboration with GPs.
"It is important to support the health needs of Canberrans when there are very limited alternative options available," he said.
"WiCs do this by providing health care seven days a week, from early in the morning until late at night, with no appointment necessary. Canberrans often report difficulty accessing a GP, sometimes having to wait significant time to be able to get an appointment."
