GP stress is a real thing - but there is a solution available

Imagine a worst-case scenario at a GP surgery in regional Tasmania - a small town with one or two small GP clinics serving the local area.

Three GPs decide to close their Tasmanian surgery and head to the mainland where they can work less days.

Their regional centre would be devastated.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff called an early poll on 14th February 2024 after governing in minority for more than eight months.

We are aware of GP clinic closures around the state - but unseen are those clinics teetering on the edge of losing their doctors due to job pressures.

We have seen the outcomes - Green Point, Scottsdale, East Devonport and the Tasman Peninsula. Governments throw whatever resources (money) are needed to fix those crisis problems.

Every day, more Tasmanians are presenting with chronic multi-system disease - diabetes, kidney failure, neuropathy, heart disease and a variety of cancers.

In the past, GPs had support from general physicians, but their numbers have shrunk as more doctors choose specialties like cardiology, immunology and oncology.

More and more often, GPs are working longer and longer hours to deal with these chronic conditions with which patients are presenting.

Pressure is far greater in regional Tasmania than in Launceston, Hobart, Burnie and Devonport - where surgeries are more likely to close their doors at a fixed time.

It is not uncommon for Tasmanian GPs to skip meal breaks and work 10-12-hour days frequently.

GPTT Inc has put forward its GP Solution and made a Budget Submission to the current Liberal Government, obviously now on hold until the election.

The GP Solution is not a band aid solution. It will "future-proof" Tasmania now and in the long-term.

We have called for an investment of $4 million to pay the HECS debt of 40 graduating doctors. These 40 doctors would be contracted to Tasmania for five years - to be placed where they are most needed in regional and rural Tasmania.

For every $1 million spent, approximately 10 GPs would be locked into the State's health care system. An immediate injection of 10 extra GPs would change the State's health outcomes dramatically.

Our solution means graduating doctors would enter into a contract with the State Government to undertake their training in Tasmania with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners or the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine.

We need to implement the GP Solution - for GP supply, GP protection and GP mental health.

But, most importantly, for the long-term health of Tasmanians.

Dr Andrew Fair, Launceston GP and GPTT Inc Board Member