Closure of four clinics this month will put pressure on health system

Doctors have raised the alarm over plans to close clinics set up to cope with Covid with the state’s hospital system already badly overloaded.

Closure of four respiratory clinics in Adelaide this month will see GPs and hospital emergency departments swamped with Covid cases, the Australian Medical Association warns.

AMA state president Dr Michelle Atchison is worried the health system “will not cope with demand” when the federal government ends funding for the clinics on December 31.

She noted the four clinics treat 1000 patients between them each week.

“Where will these patients go?” Dr Atchison said. “We know we don’t have enough GPs. It’s

difficult to find an appointment. And from January 8, that difficulty will increase as patients with Covid symptoms need a GP referral for a PCR test.

“The respiratory clinics were designed to play a specific role in the pandemic health framework – to give patients with respiratory symptoms a place they could receive care, staying away from both emergency departments and general practice to avoid the spread and reduce the pressure on public hospitals.

“This decision means there will be more pressure on GPs and emergency departments to meet the healthcare needs of unwell patients, at a time when large gatherings may contribute to increased case numbers.”

AMA SA president Dr Michelle Atkinson

SA recorded 9684 new Covid cases last week, up from 9000 the previous week, bringing the overall total to more than 820,000 recorded.

Dr Atchison said GPs now face dealing with the clinics’ workload, with the increased risk of doctors and staff getting infected.

“General practice has borne the burden of this pandemic for nearly three years, and is now

having another curve ball thrown at it,” she said.

“It is useless to pretend we must return to ‘business as normal’ – we are living in a different world and there is nothing ‘normal’ about it.’

“We don’t want people arriving at GP clinics with symptoms – or, worse, pretending they don’t have Covid symptoms – and possibly infecting their doctors and staff, so that those practices aren’t able to care for patients with Covid or other conditions, any more now than we did a year or two years ago.

“This is another decision that seems to be based on the idea that Australians no longer need

health care for Covid.”

The federal Department of Health and Aged Care released a statement noting there are 97 such clinics contracted to December 31 but a scale back commenced in August.
“National cabinet have agreed to a nationally consistent approach to transition Australia’s Covid-19 response based on six principles and to return funding and policy efforts to a more sustainable footing,” it states.

“This government will continue to monitor Covid-19 and recalibrate the response according to the prevailing epidemiological circumstances. Based on this information, the government will make further decisions on the Australia’s national Covid-19 response for 2023 shortly.

“The government is confident sufficient coverage will remain in place to protect Australians with moderate respiratory symptoms through further waves.”