A Melbourne GP clinic has been accused of discrimination after a photo showing different fees charged for seeing female and male doctors was shared online.
On Wednesday, writer Maeve Marsden posted an image to Twitter of a sign in her friend’s doctors office – identified as Myhealth North Eltham.
“This is so f**ked,” she wrote. “My friend… goes to Eltham North Clinic in Victoria and they’ve just instituted extra fees for female doctors because ‘women’s issues take longer.’ Surely this is illegal?”
The fees specify that for both standard and extended consultations, it costs $7 more to see a female doctor.
Speaking to The Age, Marsden’s friend Laura, who attends the clinic, said she’d never seen the sign before. “I just think what a ridiculous policy to have in place,” she said.
When she asked the clinic’s receptionist about the sign, she was told the extra fee for female doctors was to account for the fact that “women’s issues take longer”.
When contacted by Mamamia about the fee structure at Myhealth North Eltham, a spokesperson for Minister of Health Greg Hunt said, “The Minister is deeply concerned.”
“Not only is this practice offensive, it is potentially discriminatory.
“The Minister has referred the matter to Victoria’s Health Complaints Commissioner for an urgent investigation.”
Speaking to The Age, Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessey also expressed her concern over the GP fees.
“Nobody should have to fork out more to see a doctor simply because they are a woman,” she said.
On Thursday afternoon, the clinic issued a statement about its fees on its website.
“At Myhealth North Etham, our priority is to provide the best medical care to all patients,” the statement reads.
“Each individual doctor sets their own consultation fees and standard appointment duration. The difference in consultation fees reflects the difference in the time allocated for a standard consultation with the doctor irrespective of patient profile.”
Myhealth North Eltham did not respond when contacted by Mamamia.
Top Comments
If you are concerned about the gender pay gap this is how it is fixed. Female GP’s earn less than their male counterparts and studies have found that this is due to female doctors spending more time with their patients. This is partly due to patient expectations of female doctors (to be more caring) but also that female GPs dealing with more medical issues per consult.
This well-researched article explains that very issue:
https://womensagenda.com.au...
I would have thought the pay gap was due to many female GPs (and Specialists) working part time. If my GP spends more time with me I get charged for a double appointment.
The explanation they gave doesn't make any sense, you can still be a woman and see a male GP... maybe the female GPs are more in demand or work different hours? It is a silly sign anyway, they could just show charges for different GPs instead of via their gender.
The female GPs in that practice spend more time with each patient they see: hence, they charge slightly more. The only mistake this practice made was allowing the receptionist or practice manager to put up a poorly-worded sign, advising of the different rates charged by different doctors. Had they simply named the doctors, rather than differentiated between them according to gender, this would not have made the news.