Medicare freeze and cost of living forces more GP clinics to close

The cost of living crisis, specialist shortages and inadequate Medicare funding are all factors contributing to the alarming shutdown of the fifth Cairns GP surgery in the past 12 months.

The Trinity GPs doctor surgery in Smithfield will close down permanently from Friday, January 24. Picture: Supplied

The cost of living crisis, specialist shortages and inadequate Medicare funding are all factors contributing to the alarming shutdown of the fifth Cairns GP surgery in the past 12 months.

On Friday, Trinity GPs in the Smithfield Village will close permanently, leaving hundreds of patients to make alternative healthcare arrangements.

The two-doctor bulk billing practice joins four other defunct clinics in Cairns alone.

Gardens Medical in Edge Hill, Draper Street’s Apple Tree Medical and Thrive Medical have all ceased to operate recently.

Abbott Medical Clinic in Earlville last year amalgamated with the Toogood Medical Centre to form one centre.

Cairns GP and deputy chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Queensland faculty Aileen Traves said unlike public facilities backed by government funding, most doctor surgeries are privately or corporate owned and are exposed to increasing cost of living pressures like most other businesses.

The practice was located at Smithfield Village in the heart of the north Cairns growth corridor.

“There is a lot of chatter and there are a lot of upset people that don’t understand why GPs are closing down,” she said.

“You have a finite amount of money coming in and we get that everywhere but particularly in health care, it’s a real challenge at the moment.

“Most of it is the cost of living pressure, the cost of insurance, rent and staff and the (rebates) coming down on the back of the Medicare freeze.”

Under the current Medicare rebate scheme a GP is paid $42.85 for every bulk billed consultation between six and 19 minutes.

Former Thrive Medical GP Dr Aileen Traves now works at the Redlynch Medical Centre. Picture: BRENDAN RADKE

But Dr Traves said most GPs only see about 65 per cent of that amount, with the rest paid to the practice which is then used to cover outgoings such as rent, power, admin and nursing staff, internet and insurance bills.

“It’s not keeping the doors open, the only way you can do it is to see more people more quickly, the perverse reality is the system rewards doctors that see more people,” she said.

“(The federal government) have not been increasing the rebate and they have not for decades.”

In 2014 the rebate was $37.05 meaning the payment has increased $5.80 in 11 years.

In 2025 it costs between $80 and $100 to provide a standard GP consult which is the primary reason for practices not being able to afford to bulk bill all patients and being forced to charge a gap fee in order to keep clinics financially viable and the doors open.

Dr Traves said there was a very real concern that the five remaining bulk billing clinics in Cairns will be lost.

Trinity GP’s Dr Joshua Venkatesh declined multiple requests for comment, however its understood irreconcilable differences with the building’s owner Magenta Enterprises Pty Ltd couldn’t be worked out.

AMA Queensland president Dr Nick Yim said until there was real reform of Medicare to properly compensate GP surgeries for treating patients, practices are having to choose between closing their doors or charging their patients more.

“Medicare rebates for patients remain woefully inadequate,” he said.

“This is certainly not the first general practice clinic to close in recent times, and we fear it won’t be the last if action isn’t taken to reverse the years of inadequate funding of Medicare and our growing workforce shortage.

“The medical workforce shortage is also contributing to many GP closures, with GPs among the list of specialists in shortest supply.”

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Originally published as Medicare freeze and cost of living forces more GP clinics to close