This submission, prepared by PCA, to the Chair of the Medicare Benefits Review Taskforce, responds to the preliminary report on urgent after-hours primary care services funded through the MBS. PCA strongly believes that when a patient receiving palliative care in the community requires after-hours care this should always be classified as 'urgent' and can never be delayed until the next in-hours period, whether delivered by the patients GP or a Medical Deputising Service (MDS). Reduced access to urgent after-hours care in the community will leave people receiving palliative care and their carers in vulnerable situations where often the only option left is to present at emergency departments. PCA calls for the inclusion of palliative care as a specific component within the definition of urgent in the proposed explanatory notes, and exemption to the availability of an MDS in the proposed item descriptors if the person requiring urgent after-hours care is identified as a person receiving palliative care.

PCA submission to the preliminary report for consultation: urgent after-hours primary care services funded through the MBS