A report talking to GPs in Shepparton found doctors were burned out, and the pressure of additional wait times was compounding the issue.
The report, titled Diagnosing a rural doctor deficiency: symptoms of labour shortages in Shepparton general practice was prepared for State Member for Shepparton Suzanna Sheed’s office in October 2021.
It interviewed four doctors with decades of experience working in Shepparton.
One doctor said they did overtime and cut down lunch breaks in order to fit in patients, and another said they made sacrifices in order to ensure people did not go without care.
“(The receptionists) will wander around until they can eyeball somebody and say ‘we’ve got this (patient)’ and generally one of us is going to say ‘sure, squeeze them in’. If I can’t, it will be somebody else. If they can’t, it will be me,” another said.
Another said while most doctors “soldier on”, it came at a cost.
“We’re tired and our families suffer. There’s no real respite ... the only way I can manage this, I have to be a robot,” another said.
The report said patients were still satisfied with GPs across Shepparton and Mooroopna, but the wait time for an appointment grew from three days to four to six weeks between 2018 to late 2021.
There are fears that wait time will worsen as doctors across the city retire in coming years and general practices struggle to replace them.
“For these GPs, there was a mutual understanding that patients will never be refused care in general practice,” it said.
However, emergency appointments were generally only accepted for patients known to Shepparton GPs.
This increased reliance on Goulburn Valley Health’s emergency department and made chronic conditions worse, the report said.
“Labour shortages in regional general practice exacerbate already poor health outcomes of rural communities,” it said.
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