GPs have warned that thousands of patients are being left untreated in regional Australia because of a major gap in health services and say that leaders have a chance to act as the federal election looms.
A Senate inquiry into rural primary health services resulted in medical bodies calling for the government to urgently boost funding for GPs in remote areas to meet the severe doctor shortages.
The inquiry's recent interim report recommended an increase to Medicare rebates and more incentives to encourage doctors to move to regional Australia.
James Langley, who works as a GP in Batemans Bay on the New South Wales South Coast, has had to turn away new patients because there are not enough doctors in his area.
"It leads to a high level of work and I definitely want to work less, but how can I when there's already such a long wait for an appointment to see me?" he said.
Working as a GP has also been expensive for Dr Langley, forcing him to walk away from bulk billing.
"I have never liked charging people, but when I came to Batemans Bay I had to start privately billing people," he said.
Patients skipping visits
Doctors warn residents in rural communities with limited healthcare options are allowing their illnesses to escalate before finally getting treatment.
Dr Langley said he tended to see his patients "later in the course of an illness" and that they often "put up with a bad cold".
"In Batemans Bay you don't see people with bad colds," he said.
This has increased the pressure on GPs in remote communities.
"We're seeing people with multi-system chronic disease all the time, so that can be demanding," Dr Langley said.
Severe shortage
Part of the problem is that less medical students are choosing to move to the regions.
But even outside remote areas new doctors are choosing not become GPs.
"Only 15 per cent of our medical students are selecting general practice as their speciality of choice," said Michael Clements, chair of the Rural Faculty of the Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP).
The inquiry into rural GP services identified Medicare rebates as a key incentive for doctors to choose to become a GP.
"The attractiveness to move into general practice anywhere has been reduced because the Medicare rebates have been held back by successive governments," Dr Clements said.
Medical bodies, including the RACGP and the Rural Doctors Association Australia, pushed for a rebate increase through their recent submissions to the Senate inquiry.
Dr Clements said both Liberal and Labor governments had slowly been "withdrawing money" from primary healthcare.
He fears the interim report's recommendations will be left forgotten by both major parties as the federal election looms.
"They have a choice now," Dr Clements said.
