Accessing a doctor can be a difficult task for aged care residents due to the reluctance of many GPs to provide services at facilities.
The issue was highlighted in the final report from the Royal Commission Into Aged Care Quality and Safety released more than a year ago and the problem has persisted.
Some aged care residents in southern New South Wales have gone almost 10 months without being seen by a doctor.
Elizabeth Dodd is one of two doctors in Griffith who completely dedicate their time to servicing 250 aged care patients.
She said before she began catering for the demand, some residents were barely being seen by GPs.
"Which when you live in aged care is just not a really good thing."
Hitting close to home
Wagga Wagga resident Alison Hetherington said her dad Morris, who was a war veteran and had dementia, was only seen by a doctor once in the six weeks before he died earlier this year.
She said that was despite six requests having been made to be seen by a GP at his Wagga Wagga residential aged care home during that same period of time.
"Dad's health towards the end could have been managed a lot better," Ms Hetherington said.
Wagga Wagga GP Jodi Culbert spends every Friday servicing residential aged care homes.
It is a city of roughly 70,000 people and Dr Culbert said many families there struggled to get GPs for relatives in aged care.
Dr Culbert said the complex health needs of aged care patients meant consultations were time-consuming for doctors, and they often did visits after hours or during lunch breaks.
"The vulnerability, the people who may have communication or cognitive problems, means that you have to take a lot longer and spend a bit more time.
"Unfortunately the Medicare system for people isn't set up that way."
Dr Culbert said the regional GP shortage also wasn't helping and COVID-19 had exacerbated the issue.
"Getting an appointment with a GP in their usual practice is challenging," she said.
"So finding someone to take over care in a residential aged care facility, which involves visiting out of the clinic, out of normal doctors hours, is really hard at the moment."
Family's responsibility
Evan Robertson is chief executive of The Forrest Centre, which operates several aged care homes in Wagga Wagga.
He said his organisation tried to help families find GPs for residents.
"Technically, it's not the aged care provider's responsibility to find a GP, it is the individual resident and their family's to have a GP when being admitted," he said.
Royal commission recommendation
The final report from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety made some recommendations to improve residents' access to doctors.
It suggested GPs could apply to become accredited aged care providers, which would then agree on a care plan for patients, no matter what their needs.
In return, the practice would receive an annual payment for every patient.
The commission recommended that the changes begin by January 2024.
Ms Hetherington said she hoped her dad's experience would not be repeated when it came to caring for her mum.
"Mum's 90, she's independently living," she said.
"At some point there is the chance she'll need to go into a nursing home.
"She's terrified, not from the loss of independence but she said, 'what about the care? Who's going to be there for me?'
In a statement, the Department of Health said there had been several investments to support the implementation of the commission's recommendations.
It said almost $43 million dollars had been invested to increase access to care, improve health outcomes for aged care patients and increase clinical support for the aged care workforce.
