Small villages need a full-time GP, with residents being forced to travel long distances for basic health care

It took an ambulance half an hour to get to George Thompson’s wife when she had a stroke, and another 40 minutes to get to Lismore Base Hospital. It was the start of a horror health journey, and they’re not alone in their frustration with the system.

GP NEEDED: Coraki needs a GP and its own ambulance, George Thompson said at the Lismore hearings into Health outcomes and access to health and hospital services in rural, regional and remote New South Wales, on June 17, 2021.

Heartbreaking stories of inadequate health care are being told during the Lismore hearing of an inquiry into health and hospital services in regional NSW.

So far the commitee has heard of Northern Rivers residents being shuffled outside an emergency department and being left alone in the middle of night after receiving treatment, and of others suffering chronic illnesses having to travel for hours to access basic and specialist health care.

At the first session of the hearing, speakers included branch president of the Old Bonalbo CWA Marilyn Grundy, George Thompson from Coraki Health Reference Group, chair of the Ballina Cancer Advocacy Group Maureen Fletcher and owner of the Bonalbo Pharmacy Sharon Bird.

The residents pleaded for more doctors and better health outcomes.

Mrs Grundy said residents said there were “huge problems” for Old Bonalbo residents, particularly with (Lismore Base) “hospital shuffling people outside” after receiving treatment.

“My son was taken by ambulance to Lismore Base Hospital and was discharged at 2am,” she said.

“They are left outside where there’s no public transport, the ambulance has gone to another case, they could be stuck there as many people in our area don’t have their own transport.”

Mrs Grundy said a lack of a full-time medical officer in the village was also causing great distress.

“We have to wait more than two weeks to see at doctor at Bonalbo and ambulances can take hours to get to us,” she said

“We have to suck it up.”

Mr Thompson spoke on behalf of the community members of the Coraki Health Reference Group, which was established by the Northern NSW Local Health District in 2013 to provide community input into the provision of health services to Coraki and its surrounds.

”The purpose of this submission is to draw attention to the lack of a GP in Coraki and to urge government action to attract and retain the services of GPs in small regional communities such as ours,” he said.

“In our view the most essential primary health service in such communities is that provided by a GP and Coraki which is located in Northern NSW, approximately 30km south of Lismore, 30km east of Casino and 30km west of Evans Head desperately needs a GP.”

Mr Thompson said almost 2000 people lived in Coraki and its immediate localities (West Coraki, East Coraki, Tuckurimba, Ruthven, Codrington and Bungawalbin).

Mr Thompson said the closure of the hospital ‒ which closed after storm damage ‒ was a great loss to the community and was still keenly felt.

“With the hospital closed, it became difficult to retain the services of a GP in Coraki,” he said.

“The last VMO at the hospital stayed on for a couple of years, then left.

“A clinic at Casino established a part-time outreach practice here which lasted less than a year and all our efforts to attract other doctors and nearby practices to Coraki have failed.”

Mr Thompson also called attention to the lack of an ambulance in Coraki.

“While ambulances are available from Casino, Evans Head and Lismore, the extra half-hour

they take to reach Coraki can be critical and my wife’s experience illustrates this when she suffered a stroke at home in East Coraki in 2012,” he said.

“An ambulance arrived half an hour after my triple-0 call and was able to deliver my wife to the emergency department at Lismore Base Hospital 40 minutes later.

“By the time she arrived at the hospital the window of opportunity for thrombolysis to remove the clot in her brain was closing.

“After consultation with a neurologist at John Hunter Hospital it was decided thrombolysis was in fact viable.

“The injection was administered, but unfortunately it was not successful and she suffered two brain haemorrhages as a result.

“She has not walked since. That extra half-hour it took for the ambulance to get to Coraki may have made the difference between success and failure.

“An ambulance stationed in Coraki could make a similar difference to local residents who require urgent emergency care.”

The hearings coninue.

Live stream details: https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Pages/webcasts.aspx