A parliamentary inquiry into rural health care has heard overworked GPs in one southern New South Wales town might resign, leaving the local hospital without doctors.
Marion Magee, a doctor in Deniliquin and chair of the local health action group, told the Upper House inquiry that the workload on the five doctors that provided on-call services at the hospital was unsustainable.
"We are at a tipping point, the doctors in town. Right now we are actually having a meeting talking about resigning en masse," she said.
Dr Magee was asked what that would mean for doctor services at the Deniliquin hospital.
"There is potential for it to stop, yes," she said.
She told the inquiry that it would be very difficult for the Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD) to find locum services to fill the gap.
Reducing fatigue
MLHD chief executive Jill Ludford said the district would meet with local GPs to discuss on-call arrangements and address the concerns raised.
She told the inquiry she was aware of the doctors' workload and appreciated the work they did.
"Now, we've been talking to the doctors (about) the way doctors are rostered in our hospital and our other 33 hospitals across the district," Ms Ludford said.
"Which is that we have a doctor on call, and that doctor looks after the patients for the day or two days or whatever the doctor's decided.
"So how we roster and look after our emergency department and the wards makes a big difference to the fatigue level of the doctors.
"So really we'd be very keen to talk to the doctors to see what we can do to really lessen that load for them and reduce their fatigue."
The MLHD said to reduce fatigue and callouts, it employed a nurse practitioner in the emergency department and would soon add a second.
It said regular locum cover was provided to reduce the on-call workload for local GPs.
