Lack of GPs puts surgery at risk

NARACOORTE needs two more GPs with anaesthetics skills or else surgery at the town's hospital will be compromised.

NARACOORTE needs two more GPs with anaesthetics skills or surgery at the town's hospital will be compromised.

The Kincraig Medical Clinic, whose GPs also service Naracoorte's hospital, desperately needs the anaesthetics-trained GPs for its daily surgery lists, or residents will have to travel to Adelaide of Mt Gambier.

Clinic partner Jeff Taylor said the town's anaesthetics-trained GPs had dropped from four to two this year.

"Those lists have been put at risk because if you don't have anaesthetists then there's no one to put a patient to sleep," he said.

Dr Taylor said the initiatives in the Rural Doctors Workforce Agency report - which found 53 new rural GPs were needed each year - should be funded, as should training places to upskill existing GPs. He said Naracoorte's eight GPs had worked three in four weekends since February and were "burning out".

"GPs are getting exhausted and so it's threatening the continuation of services that Naracoorte has so far been able to do."

Dr Taylor said the centre, which caters for patients up to 100km away such as in Keith to the north, had also unsuccessfully looked for an anaesthetics-trained locum. The GPs recently reduced their on-call times.

For two weekends a month some emergency cases - including pregnant women about to give birth - must travel 100km south to Mount Gambier. Three of the centre's GPs have training in obstetrics, one is trained in anaesthetics and a fifth is trained in both areas.

"We see an average of 25-30 patients each day, while one of us will rotate to the hospital as the duty doctor for emergencies and will see probably between 30 and 40 patients," Dr Taylor said.

His next available appointment was in February, so patients were waiting six to eight weeks for a check-up. It is hoped a new clinic, due to begin construction next week, will attract more GPs to the area. In the meantime, Dr Taylor said funding training for rural GPs must become a priority.

Northern Adelaide Medicare Local chief Barbara Magin said GPs were needed in northern suburban areas. Of the 69 clinics from Gepps Cross to Gawler, 27 had vacancies, she said. "We need a form of encouragement for doctors to work in these areas."