‘Three-hour drive for 15-minute check-up’: Burnett residents fed up

Less than 230km from Brisbane, pregnant women are forced to drive three hours for a check-up, and asthmatics are relying on pharmacy treatment instead of medical treatment as a critical shortage of doctors closes doors to new patients and puts lives at risk.

Nanango mum Gemma Louise Shaydene had to drive three hours to Bundaberg for pregnancy scans when she was expecting her daughter.

Burnett residents are desperate for more accessible health care, with some people being forced to travel hundreds of kilometres or wait four weeks to see a GP.

Medical centres at full capacity are being forced to close their doors to new patients, which leaves no options for many but to travel.

Kingaroy mum Gemma Louise Shaydene said there’s a lot of turning people away.

“While I was pregnant I had to drive three hours to Bundaberg for my pregnancy scans,” Miss Shaydene said.

“A year later my daughter had pyloric stenosis where food gets trapped and we had to wait for hours at Kingaroy Hospital where they brushed it off.

Nanango mum Gemma Louise Shaydene was left with no option but to drive three hours to Bundaberg Hospital for pregnancy care.

“There isn’t a lot of accommodation in the area that young doctors desire.

“There is technology available for online scripts and appointments but the demographic of this area is a lot of elderly people who aren’t good with technology,” she said.

Nanango born and bred NDIS carer Timothy Walsh said people were waiting three to four weeks to see a doctor in the region.

“My parents are getting older and have to do a four-hour return trip to Toowoomba to see a GP - in 10 years time this won’t be feasible,” Mr Walsh said.

“I was having trouble breathing with my asthma and had to treat it at the pharmacy when I needed a doctor. You have to be self reliant and deal with the issue yourself.

“There is a sense of hopelessness within the community, you know the answer is going to be no,” he said.

Health Workforce Queensland CEO Chris Mitchell said Kingaroy has 20 doctors with another 17 GPs in the balance of the South Burnett.

“We are a non-for-profit rural workforce agency and have been working to recruit GPs to remote and rural Queensland for over 24 years,” Mr Mitchell said.

Nanango MP Deb Frecklington said there was no doubt the South Burnett needed more GPs and that she had recently met with doctors in Nanango and Murgon to discuss the situation.

“A shortage of GPs results in a flow-on effect for our hospitals, leading to more people being left with no option but to head to a hospital emergency department to access basic health care, or even just get a prescription repeat,” Mrs Frecklington said.

The impact of Covid-19 devastated the public health system, but two years on, Burnett residents are desperate for health care to become more accessible in the region.

“I will continue to work with our local Federal Member, David Littleproud, to advocate for our region and ensure we are doing all we can to attract doctors to live and work in our community,” she said.

Kingaroy resident Terry Rankin retired from Canberra to give his wife a better quality of life due to her illnesses by relocating to warmer weather, but not having a local GP means extensive car travel.

“This becomes very uncomfortable for her and wipes her energy for days afterwards, but at this stage we have no other option,” Mr Rankin said.

“The closest GP was Blackbutt which is an hour’s drive away.

“We were appointed to a doctor who did not once look at us, examine us or even ask why we had come in.

“When questions were asked they Googled the answer. We were disgusted when they delayed a referral to see specialists that my wife and I require due to chronic medical conditions,” Mr Rankin said.

AMA Queensland president Dr Maria Boulton said general practice was the cornerstone of the health system, but it had been underfunded and neglected for far too long.

“A GP visit costs the federal government less than $40, an emergency department visit costs $700 on average,” Dr Boulton said.

AMA Queensland president Dr Maria Boulton said general practice was the cornerstone of the health system, but it had been underfunded and neglected for far too long.

“GP practices and corporates continue to collapse under the financial strain, and fewer medical graduates want to become GPs. It’s getting harder to attract healthcare workers of all kinds to regional areas, which is a great shame as working as a GP in our smaller towns and cities is incredibly rewarding.

“We need urgent reform to turn this around, we must ensure that all patients have access to GP care, regardless of their bank balance or their postcode,” she said.

The Darling Downs and West Moreton PHN has been contacted for comment.