IT has never been harder to consult a registered general practitioner (GP) in the Nambucca Valley, with most medical centres in the area not accepting new patients to their books – a situation which has become progressively worse over the past year.

When Dr Peter Williams of Nambucca Heads retired at the end of last month, his many and mostly elderly patients were forced to find alternative medical care in the area.

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His patient base reportedly included a Nambucca Heads aged-care facility, home to around 90 patients, most of whom have had to join the many others currently searching for a general practitioner to accept them into care.

A spokesperson from Uniting NSW ACT confirmed that a number of residents at its Uniting Pacifica facility in Nambucca Heads had been affected by Dr Williams’ retirement.

“We are now working with several other locally based practices to help our residents navigate the process of finding a new GP,” Uniting said in a statement to NOTA.

Casey Shorter, Practice Manager at Macksville Medical Centre, knows firsthand how bad the situation has become.

“We were told that a nursing home with nearly 100 residents without a doctor was nowhere near as bad as one outside Grafton which was in a similar situation with its 200 residents,” Ms Shorter told NOTA.

“Macksville Medical Centre could do with an extra three doctors.

“Most of our calls are from people who aren’t on the books anywhere (and are) just looking for a doctor but we haven’t been able to accept new patients for the past ten to twelve months,” she said.

To do what they can to help the most urgent local cases, Ms Shorter signed the practice up to North Coast Health Connect, a triage service which was created to deal with problems associated with the shortage of medical help in the area.

The 24-hour telephone service connects patients to trained nurses who can provide advice or connect those in need with medical service providers who have agreed to participate in the scheme.

“I was able to use this service to make a bulk-billed appointment with a local doctor in Macksville on the same day,” one local mother told NOTA.

“It is very worrying that in the Nambucca Valley, unless we present at a hospital, we could not get medical help without this service,” she said.

Neither of the two services contacted by NOTA, Evolve Medical Centre in Nambucca Heads or Star Street Medical Centre in Macksville, are currently accepting new patients.

Staff at Star Street Medical Centre said the practice had not accepted new patients for the past eight months.

At Evolve, this had been the case for the past three months.

Star Street Medical Centre Practice Manager Vicki Coombes told NOTA that GPs are in short supply everywhere.

She said it was near impossible to convince registrars to return to the area when their contract was finished.

“They (registrars) find it quite isolating to be here and often their partner is a professional who has trouble finding work in the area.”

Ms Coombes also explained that as North Coast Health Connect required patients’ fees be bulk-billed, this prevented her practice from signing up to the scheme.

“Medicare rebates have increased by only two percent in the past 18 years so bulk billing is not possible and it wouldn’t be fair to our existing patients,” she explained.

Over the past 13 years Ms Coombes says the practice has managed to retain only two of the registrars they have trained.

An Evolve Medical Centre staff member said, “We did accept a few patients when Dr Williams retired just because they were elderly and lived locally.”

She also said that many calls are received daily by the practice from people searching for a doctor of their own in the area.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) says figures from the Department of Health Aged Care’s GP Workforce Report, released in August, shows Australia already has a shortage of 2460 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) GPs and predicts this shortage will grow to 5560 FTE GPs nationally by 2033.

However, the situation in NSW is particularly dire.

“Queensland and Victoria) have introduced a $40,000 incentive for registrars who wish to specialise as general practitioners,” Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) NSW&ACT Chair Dr Rebekah Hoffman told NOTA.

“The effect of this on the number of doctors signing up to train as GPs was pretty clear, with a big and immediate increase in GPs in training in both urban and rural parts of the state.”

Under the current situation of doctor education in NSW, when new doctors complete their initial training, they spend a period of time working in hospitals before they decide their specialty.

For those choosing to become a GP in NSW, this choice comes as something of a ‘pay-cut’ as they begin their training in general practice.

Self-funded examinations, basic pay and several years under the supervision of other more experienced GPs mean that doctors who choose other, hospital-based specialisations can receive salaries $30,000 more than GP registrars.

Dr Hoffman said the RACGP has taken this and other measures to the NSW Parliament and will continue to advocate for the sector within the state.

“Governments continue to pour billions into hospitals when the best investment is funding preventive care and management of chronic conditions by GPs in the community,” she said.

“Making up for the difference in pay and incentives general practice registrars receive compared to hospital-based registrars works.”

Member for Oxley Michael Kemp expressed concerns about the flow-on effect of the GP shortage on other local services.

“When people can’t see a local GP, they end up having to go to the emergency department, which is already under pressure,” Mr Kemp told NOTA in a statement.

“That means longer wait times for everyone and more stress on our hardworking emergency staff.

“This shortage of GPs in regional areas has not been helped by the Albanese Labor government and it is really hurting our healthcare system statewide,” he said.

By Ned COWIE