The town of Clermont in central Queensland has gone without permanent doctors in its hospital for years.
In February, community organisation Clermont for Doctors sat down with the executive of the Mackay Hospital and Health Service (MHHS) in an attempt to create a model to promote a safe and sustainable workforce.
This outlined the need for one full-time doctor, two part-time doctors and a nurse practitioner.
While there is some agreement in part about the solution, the group cannot agree on the finer details.
That's further leaving the community in limbo, as well as a senior doctor who's willing to relocate to the town.
Karyn Matterson is an 11-year defence veteran who has worked as a doctor in the Royal Australian Air Force.
Currently, she works as a locum doctor around Queensland, New South Wales, and Tasmania.
Having travelled several times to work in the Clermont Hospital, Dr Matterson said she fell in love with the town but saw there was so much need.
"There was one doctor to deal with that.
"This model is about creating a safe environment for people that work in the hospital … the doctors, the nurses and operational staff … as well as the community."
Clermont for Doctors
Janelle Otto from Clermont for Doctors said the organisation attracted two doctors who were willing to move to the town.
One was Dr Matterson, and another was a doctor who could work between the hospital and private practice.
"It was looking like a great outcome, and we had two out of the three doctors, and one of them, his wife was a doctor as well," she said.
"We had ticked all the boxes and pretty much handed the package to the MHHS and said can you deliver the contracts?
Ms Otto said the second doctor had since withdrawn his application due to the stalemate.
Dr Matterson said she was still waiting for her contract.
"I was approached by Clermont for Doctors in January to consider taking on the medical supervisor role.
"I sat together and worked out what an ideal medical model would look like … but it's been difficult to get across the line at this point in time."
Anticipating her contract would go through, Dr Matterson's husband, Simon, took a job in town.
Mr Matterson has been living in Clermont for three weeks while she remains in Brisbane.
"It's very rare that you can have a husband and wife team move to a rural area, and both have fulfilling jobs on the table," she said.
Ms Otto said she was contacted by the executive of the MHHS in January.
She said a consultation process followed where an integrated model between private practice, the hospital and the community was established.
"We're all at the end of the line with it all," Ms Otto said.
"The doctors end up being here in isolation, and it falls apart.
The Mackay Hospital and Health Service
In a statement, MHHS chief medical officer David Farlow said the model could not be at any cost.
However, he said, there was room for negotiation.
"We are prepared to have a nurse practitioner and three doctors in Clermont on the proviso the full-time doctor also worked on expanding the model for the whole of Isaac [regional council]," Dr Farlow said.
"The proposal put to the health service was for one full-time doctor, two doctors working, 0.8 of a full-time position and a nurse practitioner.
"We also were prepared to offer the other two doctors a half-position so they could work the other half at the GP surgery."
Dr Farlow said the hospital had an average of 10 emergency department presentations and one to two inpatients a day.
He also said there were additional requests to be paid 25 per cent above what other doctors in similar roles received
However, Dr Matterson said the requests were not unreasonable.
"What's missing in this piece is that we have 22 aged care residents at the hospital," he said.
"We've got 10 acute care beds, and when I've been there, we've had up to three people in those beds, depending on what flavour of the COVID month is out there.
Dr Matterson remains hopeful she will be able to reach an agreement with the health service this week, but she would not join unless there was a part-time doctor at the hospital to share the workload.
"I think there is an in-between, and that will be continuing to use the locum doctors as long as we have another part-time doctor," she said.
"We can have two of the three-person team so we can start rebuilding the trust, rapport and services from the ground up.
