New GP practices expected to boost population, business productivity and healthcare in Katherine after doctor crisis

The recent opening of two new permanent GP practices in Katherine, following a months-long doctor crisis, will boost efforts to retain and attract people to the community, recruit more workers and provide care to vulnerable residents, according to local leaders.

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THE recent opening of two new permanent GP practices in Katherine, following a months-long doctor crisis in the town, will boost efforts to retain and attract people to the community, recruit more workers and ensure its most vulnerable residents receive sufficient care, according to local and health leaders.

New clinics Bauhinia Health and the Katherine Family Medical Practice opened on March 29 and April 12 respectively, ending a five month period in which most Katherine residents were unable to see a doctor at an established local clinic following the closure of Gorge Health in October.

Katherine MLA Jo Hersey said the new clinics’ opening would help keep existing residents in Katherine as well as attract new ones by offering them a level of primary healthcare on par with that of other regional towns its size across Australia.

“The lack of GPs was of great concern to the community, especially amongst the senior residents, with lots of residents having to travel to Darwin to receive medical treatment which had its own barriers given that not everyone can afford to or have the capacity to travel on their own,” she said.

“This will be a positive for Katherine in that people looking at moving here will be able to access general health services like any other regional community in Australia.”

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Chamber of Commerce NT regional manager for Katherine, Colin Abbott, said the months-long lack of GPs in Katherine had had a big impact on local business productivity and recruitment efforts, making the new clinics’ opening a huge relief.

“In order to physically see a doctor for whatever reason, it was going to be a three-hour drive there, a three-hour drive back and possibly an overnight stay. So you were looking at a minimum of one day, if not two days, lost productivity for a business, simply because you couldn’t make a 15 minute appointment to see a doctor here in town,” he said.

“The other side of it was, if you were trying to recruit people to Katherine, and you turned around and said ‘by the way, we don’t have any GPs’, you had no hope of brining people up.

“It’s a great thing these practices have opened in Katherine, because it means instead of businesses losing a whole day in (a worker’s) productivity, they’re only losing half an hour; and instead of having to turn around and tell someone they’re trying to attract to town they’re going to have to travel a 600km round trip to see a doctor, they can see a GP here.”

Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) president John Hall said GPs were the backbone of healthcare in regional towns and were critical to ensuring a community’s most vulnerable residents, in particular, were adequately cared for.

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“(Without them) you’re going to find that people will be reluctant to settle in a town, and you might even find people leaving a town,” he said.

“Particularly people in the older demographic, or people with chronic illnesses who need to see a GP regularly for ongoing care, would not settle in a town or would choose to leave if they had to make six hour round trip for healthcare.

“Having enough GPs would absolutely give comfort to the elderly population that know they’re going to need frequent visits with doctors, and those with chronic conditions that need monitoring and maintaining.”