Walgett local Kylie McKenzie knows all too well the importance of having easy — and consistent — access to a trusted GP.
She has largely attended the same practice in the regional New South Wales town for over a decade.
But that practice has closed its doors after a long battle to find a permanent doctor, something Ms McKenzie said is going to have a dual effect on the community.
Walgett has been identified as one of more than 40 towns at risk of being without a full-time GP in the next decade.
Charitable organisation Rural and Remote Medical Services (RARMS) has been running GP services in Walgett for 20 years.
But its practice in the nearby town of Lightning Ridge is also shutting its doors after a similar fruitless search for a permanent doctor.
The two clinics serviced about 7,000 people in the Walgett Shire.
RARMS chief executive Mark Burdack said the closure was a tragedy for the community, but the clinics' reliance on locums had made the situation unsustainable.
"Locum rates are now up to $3,000 a day, or more, and we're only a small organisation," he said.
Another hurdle to healthcare
Ms McKenzie's son, Xander, has hydrocephalus, a build-up of fluid in the brain that requires ongoing medical care.
It meant the pair had spent a lot of time with doctors and were used to a lack of continuity in the doctors providing treatment.
But having to shift to a new practice altogether had added yet another hurdle to accessing healthcare.
"We've got to go through all of the paperwork again … and explain absolutely everything all over again.
"They don't know us [and] we don't know them — it's really hard."
Alternative arrangements uncertain
RARMS has been in talks with the Western NSW Local Health District about an arrangement that would see fellow health organisation, Ochre Health, take full responsibility for primary care hospital services in Walgett and Lightning Ridge.
RARMS would take over the hospital and primary care services in Collarenebri.
Mr Burdack said the potential arrangement remained up in the air.
"It's not a long term solution, but it keeps those services going," he said.
"If we're going to see a real solution to these problems, we need fundamental reform of our rural health programs."
