For many Australians the shortage of doctors outside metropolitan areas means booking an appointment with a GP – including for a COVID jab – is far from easy.
Canberra sea-changer Pam Scott has been living in Moruya on the New South Wales South Coast for three years and is yet to find a regular doctor, meaning she has to drive the two hours back to the ACT to see her GP.
She says it is a trial no-one should be have to face.
"It creates quite a degree of anxiety … It makes me be extra wary [of my health] and it makes you feel quite isolated," she said.
"I have a predisposition to an auto-immune disease and for me at the moment it's a case of driving to Canberra or [being admitted to hospital] casualty.
Not just a concern for rural patients
Veteran regional doctor Gundi Muller-Grotjan said the extra demand since the vaccine rollout began was putting GPs under even more pressure.
"We can't just lash out and get 10 more people to help because we can't pay them," she said.
"So we all have to pull up our socks and just do the job.
Dr Muller-Grotjan said the outbreak had pushed many of her colleagues to breaking point.
"GPs were asked in a poll recently, ‘What's the number one priority for Australian general practitioners?'" she said.
"I'm worried about what will happen after we finish [the rollout] — general practice is very much in danger."
Help is not on the way
Royal Australian College of General Practice rural chair Michael Clements said rural GPs across the country were not coping.
"We haven't been making enough [rural medical graduates] for many years now," he said.
"We have had rural general practices close down, we have had rural doctors cancel leave and cancel extra training."
Dr Clements said COVID had ended the flow of medical professional from overseas who could assist struggling rural clinics.
"[There is] difficulty in actually getting access into the country," he said.
