Doctors are accusing the federal government of leaving GPs in regional areas to scramble for resources to keep their practices running during the pandemic.
GPs have played a vital role in the pandemic response by providing first doses of vaccines, caring for patients with coronavirus and now administering booster shots.
But the owner of a clinic at Orange, Joanne McRae, said that at all points during this pandemic, the federal government had failed to forewarn practices of changes to public health policy.
Ms McRae said doctors at her centre were struggling because they had not been adequately resourced.
"The continued under-funding, the lack of support, the undermining of training for medical workforce — those chickens are coming home to roost," she said.
A cry for help
Ms McRae reached out to her local federal member for Calare, Andrew Gee, who she said had failed to listen to, or advocate for, general practitioners in the bush throughout the pandemic.
She said her practice had not received enough PPE, including masks, or oximeters, and had been overwhelmed by the burden of the vaccine rollout, while keeping records of test results.
Mr Gee said he had contacted federal Health Minister Greg Hunt, who had since placed an order to deliver more resources to the Anson Medical Centre from the National Medical Stockpile.
"I'm for getting more resources for our country doctors and for getting more doctors into the bush," Mr Gee said.
"I think we've all got to be careful not to overwhelm our GPs and pharmacists," he said.
But Ms McRae said that was simply a band-aid approach and did not address a system failure which was impacting the whole industry.
"It's going to be very scary to see what's left standing in our health system after that happens."
'On its knees'
A GP and practice owner at Lithgow emulated her anger.
Dr Madhu Tamilarasan said her practice had been held together by the goodwill of her staff working unpaid hours but, if that was not the case, "the system would be completely and utterly broken by now".
"Practices need to have access [to resources] without having to beg for it," Dr Tamilarasan said.
She said the lack of support had pushed some of her colleagues to leave, and many planned to quit the profession within the next six to 12 months.
"The system is right at breaking point now," she said.
They are both concerned the problems will be much worse in rural and remote areas, where the burden of doctor shortages has been far greater.
Use the stockpile now
Royal Australasian College for General Practitioners president Karen Price said those areas must be prioritised now to avoid chaos down the track.
"Anywhere that a practice goes down, you're going to lose access to healthcare for thousands of patients," Dr Price said.
She said the most obvious fix would be drawing further upon the National Medical Stockpile for help.
The federal government has said it will temporarily allow medical practitioners to conduct telehealth consultations to hospital in-patients with COVID, by adding it to the Medicare Benefits Schedule.
It will also provide 20 million units of PPE over the next three months for GPs, which are prioritised for rural and remote areas.
Mr Hunt was unavailable for comment.
