2 JUNE 2023

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Rachel Fieldhouse GPs will again be allowed to prescribe Flixotide Junior and Axotide Junior on the PBS to children under six after a partial U-turn on the controversial ban . It means initial scripts for fluticasone propionate 50 µ g per actuation , 120 actuations , will no longer be restricted to respiratory physicians or paediatricians . The PBS listing will also move from authority required to streamlined authority required .

But the date this will come into effect is unclear , with the Department of Health and Aged Care and the medications ’ sponsor , GSK Australia , still finalising the revised listing details .

Restrictions for kids over six will also be partly upheld , with older children only given access to the subsidised inhaled corticosteroids if they are initiated and stabilised on the treatment before turning six .

Adelaide GP Dr Kerry Hancock , who had lobbied the PBAC to review the restrictions it imposed without warning on 1 April , said there were still concerns for older children under the revised listing .

“ It just requires a little more awareness among GPs that they will have to choose an alternative , such as beclomethasone or ciclesonide ,” she told AusDoc .

“ Otherwise , the families will have to purchase fluticasone propionate on a private script .”

The PBAC ’ s reversal acknowledged that clinicians and professional organisations had “ strong PAGE 3

Dr Sunny Patel , a newly fellowed GP , tells her story about the specialty she has come to love .

Dr Sunaina ( Sunny ) Patel WE live in a time when general practice is suffering .

This is no surprise in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic , the litigation fears , the unexplained incongruence between inflation and government funding , and the perceived devaluation of the specialty as a whole .

The GPs left standing are experiencing a high level of burnout .

But amid those very real issues , I would like to tell you my story , the story of my love for what we do .

I hope it offers some insight into how young GPs acquire a passion for their work and why mentoring from older doctors is so important to us .

I was lucky enough to be raised by two GPs who actively involved me in their practice .

They did not tell me how to be a good GP ; they showed me .

Both of them grew up in poverty-stricken Fiji and worked hard to obtain scholarships to pursue medicine .

While my father studied at Monash University in Melbourne , under Professor John Murtagh , my mother travelled alone to India before sitting her Australian Medical Council exams and moving to Australia .

They met in hospital and fell in love before opening a practice in Browns Plains , Queensland , in the 1980s after searching the east coast of Australia for a job offer to no avail .

Then , they had me . I have wanted to be a GP since I was running down the halls of their clinic in my nappy . It was my comfort zone .

I suspect a lot of who I am as a GP is inspired by my parents . While my father is calm , kind , well read and reliable , my mother is full of gusto , motivated , chatty and focused on self-improvement .

Both are focused on patient education . I recall the time when I was

‘ I know this job : it ’ s fulfilling , valuable , versatile . Healthcare itself can ’ t survive without us .’

Dr Sunny Patel

a medical student and was in my father ’ s office during the holidays . He quizzed me on a patient with breast pain and rash . I said it was shingles . He didn ’ t think I noticed , but he puffed up his chest and sported the proudest grin .

But it wasn ’ t always this way . Although medicine was my first love , I embarked on it in a circuitous manner .

Driven by my desire to help and understand people , I studied psychology and nursing . During my final nursing exams , I PAGE 6