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Labor plan equates to less rural GPs: Gillespie

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Federal Minister for Regional Health David Gillespie has slammed Labor’s plan to fix the GP shortage in Newcastle, believing it would be detrimental to many residents throughout the Hunter Valley.

Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler, Shortland MP Pat Conroy, Paterson MP Meryl Swanson, Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon and Labor candidate for Hunter Dan Repacholi outlined the party’s proposal to rectify the dearth of general practitioners in the steel city during a visit to the Windale Community Medical Centre on Tuesday 8 March.

Parts of the region are currently classified as metropolitan, under the Distribution Priority Area (DPA), meaning locals were missing out on access to overseas doctors and graduates of the Bonded Medical Program.

Labor is promising to change that, if it wins the next election, however Mr Gillespie claimed it was a blatant attempt to “buy votes” in Newcastle.

“The announcement virtually states an Anthony Albanese government will prioritise city over country patients in the Hunter Valley,” he said.

“Granting unconditional DPA to major centres like Newcastle ensures rural practices in towns like Singleton, Cessnock, Maitland, Muswellbrook, Scone and Dungog are competing to employ the same doctors as large clinics in Newcastle.

“I know most of the medical practices in these areas would be very unhappy that their ability to attract GPs would be severely diminished by Labor’s decision to include major city locations.

“It’s Mr Albanese’s only regional, rural or remote health policy and they’re selling it as a single fix for the doctors’ problem.

“This lackadaisical approach to giving everyone access to the Distribution Priority Area tool will completely undermine its effectiveness as a workforce distribution measure and make it harder for the areas with the lowest access to GP services in the Hunter Valley, and other rural and remote areas, to recruit and retain the doctors they need.”

Mr Gillespie, a former regional doctor in NSW for more than 30 years, said the policy would see more GPs working in larger centres like Newcastle and less and less working in rural areas of the Hunter Valley.

“I thoroughly understand how important seeing a GP is, especially those in more rural areas where there’s not a specialist or a large hospital around the corner,” he stated.

“But, this announcement is worrying – it will widen the health gap in the country areas of the Hunter Valley.”

The Distribution Priority Area classification was created in 2019 to give areas in genuine need of assistance another tool in the toolbox to help recruit more GPs from a finite pool of overseas trained doctors.

“Rural communities in the Hunter Valley are already DPA and will remain automatically so, under the government’s decision to extend automatic DPA status to MM3-MM7 areas,” Mr Gillespie said.

“In addition, in recognition that some areas that were non-DPA wanted to have their status reviewed to consider contemporaneous circumstances that may not have been considered in the annual review, I initiated an Exceptional Circumstances (EC) review process.

“Already, it’s seen several GP catchments in the Hunter Valley receive DPA status.

“This EC process has been built around providing a consistent and fair framework for decisions to avoid providing areas that have the means and capacity to recruit and retain doctors with an unfair leg up.

“I therefore find it concerning that Mr Albanese’s tribe of Labor MPs from the Hunter Valley have endorsed his plan that places GP practices in rural areas in direct competition for doctors with practices in one of the largest regional centres in the country.

“On top of this, he is promising DPA is the panacea to the GP workforce shortage.

“This misleading guarantee treats the people of the Hunter Valley as mugs.

“There is no quick fix to the GP shortage issue, however the federal government’s investment in growing our GP workforce through our Stronger Rural Health Strategy has seen an additional 700 doctors begin work in regional, rural and remote Australia.”

But, Mr Conroy responded to Mr Gillespie’s claims, stating his comments were an insult and slap in the face to local GPs and patients.

“The reality is the Morrison-Joyce government’s decision to reclassify our area as ‘metropolitan’ back in 2019 has made it harder than ever for medical practices to recruit GPs,” he said.

“If the Minister for Regional Health thinks we’ve got plenty of GPs, he should tell that to families who cannot find a medical practice accepting new patients.

“He should tell that to other patients who can be waiting up to a month to see their doctor.

“He should tell that to the 149 GP practices referenced by the Hunter Primary Network in their submission to the Labor-initiated Senate Inquiry into GP shortages who are no longer able to supplement their GP workforce with overseas trained doctors or bonded medical doctors from elsewhere in Australia.

“It is unfair and wrong that the government has determined it is as easy to recruit GPs to the Hunter as it is to Mosman.

“It shows just how out of touch they are with the health needs of our community.”

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