I completely agree with the recent sentiment espoused by NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard, calling out the Federal Liberal-National Government for failing to adequately support GPs.

Having worked at Campbelltown Hospital for decades, and continuing to volunteer there to date, I share the Minister’s concerns that NSW Hospital Emergency Departments are becoming a substitute for GPs.

Reports have equated this strain on the NSW Healthcare system to the Federal Liberal-National Government’s attacks on Medicare, with the Minister stating “I am desperate for the federal government to lead reform”.

It is apparent that there is great division between the Federal Liberal-Nation Government and the Liberal-National Government in NSW.

We cannot allow this this division to deflect from important discussions around policy decisions.

Minister Hazzard would do well to consider the consequences of the collapse in outpatient services provided by NSW Health under his own Government’s reign.

Locally, Minister Hazzard’s own Government also allowed for the closure of a co-located after-hours GP Clinic at Campbelltown Hospital; a feat which undeniably put strain on our Emergency Department.

For decades, our health system has been damaged by the constant cost shifting between the Commonwealth and the States, which has now left the system barely able to cope with our increasing and aging population.

We as a nation need to look at measures to reinvent our health system, previously seen as world leading and dynamic. There are solutions to be found primarily this means supporting our general practitioners to care for their patients as the primary point of contact for most people within the health system.

This means that the Federal Health Minister and the Federal Government need to stop seeing health as a marketing exercise and provide leadership in health policy.

Governments, both state and federal, need to work together if we are going to have a health system that is fit for purpose in the 21^st Century.

Certainly, the Federal Coalition Government has a lot to answer for when it comes to failures in our healthcare system. However, it is irresponsible for the NSW Health Minister to ignore his own Government’s failures in this arena.