Beachport Medical Services faces closure as it struggles to fill vacancies left by its departing GPs

A regional town’s only medical centre is facing closure as it struggles to find replacements for its departing GPs amid national workforce shortages.

A regional medical clinic in the South East is facing closure as the centre struggles to fill recent vacancies amid the national GP shortage.

Beachport Medical Services will be closed from December 16 if they are unable to fill the position left by its two departing GPs.

Though the positions have been advertised for months, the centre has been unable to lock in any replacement GPs to the small coastal town.

If the centre is unable to be staffed, Beachport residents will need to travel to either Robe or Millicent, both a half-hour’s drive away, for face-to-face GP services.

Beachport Medical Services is facing closure if it is unable to secure two new GPs amid Australia's growing GP shortage. Picture: Supplied

Dr David Senior, who helps facilitate the operation of the clinic, said the national workforce shortage was a complicated issue — starting from the university level.

“There was a survey of one of the years of Adelaide University (students) from a couple of months ago that discovered that not a single medical student in that year intended to become a GP,” Dr Senior said.

“That’s dire news for the future.”

Dr Senior said a lack of changes to Medicare rebates has contributed to the lack of students pursuing general practice as a speciality.

Mount Gambier has recently seen a number of GP clinics roll back their services amid workforce shortages.

Dedicated Indigenous health service Pangula Mannamurna has had to reduce its clinic hours to five hours a week, while Medical Clinic Millicent was forced to end dedicated on-call bulk-bill doctors for urgent same-day care.

Dr David Senior said the national GP shortage was a complicated issue starting at university level. Picture: Brooke Miles Photography

Dr Senior said the workforce shortages were felt more in regional and rural areas, who were at the “far end of the chain”.

“Most doctors coming through as GPs these days want to work in big cities,” he said.

“Of the ones that go to the country — very few of them want to go to small towns like Beachport.”

There is some hope the centre will be able to continue with Dr Senior hoping to lockdown two new GPs to fill the current vacancies.

“We are talking with two other doctors at the moment — and I’m rather hopeful we’re going to get a result, but that's that’s still yet to be finalised,” he said.