The Australian Medical Association has rejected a suggestion that parental lack of confidence in GPs to care for their children may be contributing to over-crowded hospital emergency departments.
An online national survey of 2100 parents of children aged from 0-17, published in the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, found only 44 per cent of parents were "completely" confident that their GP can handle almost all of their child's general health issues.
According to the survey, 45 per cent were "mostly" confident and only slightly more than half - 56 per cent - of parents were "totally" confident in a GP to provide care for minor injuries for a child not needing an X-ray.
Lead researcher, University of Melbourne Professor Gary Freed, said parents' diminishing confidence in GPs could significantly affect the organisation and structure of the health-care system as more families are attending emergency departments (EDs) for lower-urgency ailments.
"We know from our previous research that most parents presenting to the ED with a child with a lower urgency condition did not try to go to their GP first, and this was not due to a lack of available GP appointments," Professor Freed said.
"We need to be able to ensure both the competence of GPs in the care of children, and the confidence among parents in that care."
AMA Vice President Dr Tony Bartone, who is also a practising GP, disputed the findings of the survey.
"I don't believe for one minute that there is a lack in confidence in dealing with paediatric cases," Dr Bartone told AAP.
"We know from data collected by the Australian College for Emergency Medicine that lower acuity presentations is not what's crowding emergency departments.
"This study seems to be suggesting that these types of presentations are jamming up emergency departments - that couldn't be further from the truth."
Developing a relationship with your local GP builds confidence in the care they provide to children, says Dr Bartone.
"Communication and understanding is a lot easier when there is already and existing relationship. But not only that, it puts everyone at ease even in an emergency situation," he said.
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