GP drought: Young docs avoid general practice as system on brink of collapse

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The number of young doctors choosing to specialise in general practice has fallen to its lowest in more than five years, a trend doctors warn will push primary care further towards the brink of collapse.

Figures from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners show that 1394 medical graduates applied to do general practice training in the College’s latest intake, a 30 per cent drop from almost 2000 applications in 2017.

Price said that while COVID-19 put the brakes on overseas doctors applying for training, the number of applications submitted to the College has been declining for years. She chose general practice because of “the sense of meaning and satisfaction that comes from making a real difference in people’s lives,” whether that is picking up cancer early or providing care to the most vulnerable patients.

“We have more chronic diseases now – like diabetes – and when they aren’t regularly checked people end up in emergency rooms.”Government cuts to Medicare funding for GPs to interpret ECGs, which measures whether someone is having a heart attack or life-threatening irregular heart rhythm, was particularly concerning, she said.

“If we don’t work out why people are going into general practice to begin with, we won’t ever solve the problem. We will just keep shuffling doctors from region to region”. Mark Burdack, CEO of Rural and Remote Medical said about 7000 people across the Walgett shire in the north-west of NSW have seen cuts to primary health care in recent weeks after practices closed in Lightning Ridge and Walgett.

 

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