In short:
The closure of the Snug Medical Centre in southern Tasmania next month is expected to put pressure on already strained health services in the region.
About 13,000 patients will be affected by the closure, including some from nearby Bruny Island.
What's next?
Some doctors from the centre may relocate to a new facility in nearby Margate, but its opening may be months away.
Like a lot of older Tasmanians, Jeff Self has a few health issues.
"I've got issues with my vision, with my eyes. I've got prostate issues, which is a common thing for guys who are 65 and older," he said.
"Each of those [issues] is really on the edge. I could at any moment require more drastic intervention."
Having a GP who knows his health history is important to Mr Self.
"To be able to walk in and say 'good day' and sit down [with] him knowing what sort of issues I'm going to bring up. That makes a huge difference rather than having to start afresh," he said.
The medical practice Mr Self has attended for the past six years, at Snug, south of Hobart, will close in September; triggered by the retirement of practice owner Dr Robert Hamilton.
About 13,000 people across Bruny Island and the Channel region attend the clinic.
It is the fourth GP clinic in greater Hobart to close its doors in the past four months.
There are efforts to establish a new practice in Margate with the clinic's remaining doctors, but is not expected to open until next year.
Bruny Island residents impacted by clinic closure
Mr Self has booked in one last appointment at the medical practice.
"There's certainly disruption and inconvenience and concern that just goes with knowing that the practice that you've attended is going to close," he said.
Mr Self lives on Bruny Island, where there is a long wait list at the three-day-a-week GP clinic.
Bruny Island, a 20-minute ferry ride and 10-minute drive from Snug, has a permanent population of about 600.
According to Victoria Bull, chair of the Bruny Island Community Health Services Advisory, its residents are "older and sicker" than those on mainland Tasmania.
She said the island's GP service was at "tipping point" with about 800 patients on the books.
"It will increase that load exponentially because a lot of the [residents' health needs] are very complicated and not just needing a quick appointment with the GP," Ms Bull said.
Bruny Island's GP clinic is run by Ochre Health, a Sydney-based healthcare company that operates 17 clinics across Tasmania.
Ms Bull has expressed concern about access to wider health services on the island.
She said a visiting social worker and psychologist was much needed to lessen the burden on the already busy GP clinic.
"At the moment they are trying to fulfil those roles, so [residents] are coming in with lots of mental health issues," she said.
Aged care residents affected
About 10 residents at the Snug retirement village are seen by visiting doctors from the Snug Medical Clinic.
Operator Christian Homes Tasmania has said the service would not be disrupted as a GP from its other aged care facility at Kingston would continue the round.
"The GP who, luckily for us has agreed to pick up those extra residents. She's holding a very large load already," chief executive Glenn Hardwick said.
"It's hard to find GPs in aged care generally. It's not a favoured practice for GPs, but in rural GP practices, even more so."
The Snug retirement village has offered onsite space to GPs relocating from the Snug Medical Centre to allow them to keep a presence in the town until the Margate practice opens.
Workforce challenges remain, despite cash injection
Managing the workforce remained the biggest problem facing Tasmania's primary care sector, according to the state branch of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP).
RACGP Tasmanian chair Toby Gardner said it was often hard to replace retiring GPs.
"There's just not a willingness for junior doctors to move in and take over because a lot of these doctors have been working tirelessly for decades to maintain their small communities, working seven days a week, working on call," he said.
"It's actually pretty hard to encourage doctors, financial incentives or not, to move in and do that sort of work."
Dr Gardner said the closure of GP practices often forced residents to look to the next town, where that doctor might already be oversubscribed.
While Dr Gardner has been buoyed by recent financial aids introduced by state and federal governments, such as financial viability grants and bulk billing incentives, he said Tasmania should look to overseas-trained GPs to help bolster the workforce.
"They have to self-fund programs over the course of two years to become equivalent GPs in Australia at their own cost," he said.
"We've been talking to the state government about their willingness to help subsidise some of that training for those overseas-trained doctors.
"Particularly in Tasmania, which might be a drawcard to help move them down here."
State Health Minister Guy Barnett said he expected the federal government to be "very interested" in the RACGP's suggestions.
"We're also providing a $100,000 settlement allowance over five years for GPs to practice in rural and regional areas of the state," Mr Barnett said.
"[And] multi-year funding of up to $250,000 per year to support the ongoing viability of outer-urban, regional and rural Tasmanian GP practices".
Loading...