GPs feel squeeze over RAT shortage
GENERAL practitioners are bearing the brunt of the national rapid antigen test shortage, with doctors warning it is having a serious impact on the healthcare sector.
Newcomb doctor Bernard Shiu said RATs were in such short supply he struggled to access enough tests for his staff at Newcomb’s Banksia Medical Centre.
“The government is promising access of RATs to patients and to primary care (and) GP clinics,” he said.
“However, we have no idea when these RATs will be delivered.
“We are in limbo at the moment. We are guarding them like gold and trying to rationalise when to use them and on whom.”
The state government has ordered more than 44 million tests, and Premier Daniel Andrews said on Thursday that tests were being distributed free of charge across 64 sites.
But the tests are currently not available at Greater Geelong drive-through sites, with just two of these sites operating in the region.
The commonwealth has also agreed to provide 10 million tests to states and territories.
Western Victorian Primary Health Network GP and spokeswoman Dr Anne Stephenson said the shortage was impacting general practitioners. “The shortage of RATs is creating serious impacts for the healthcare sector,” Dr Stephenson said.
“Patient inquiries about testing and what to do if they have a positive test have increased substantially since after the recent announcement that people should contact their GP.
“This is resulting in severe congestion on clinic phone systems and delays in bookings, and increasing the frustration felt by many people.”
Dr Stephenson said many patients who had symptoms were currently unable to access a RAT to find out if they were positive, forcing doctors to assume they had Covid-19.
“This lack of certainty makes managing illness more difficult,” she said.
“Contact with the virus is a serious risk for healthcare workers.”
Dr Shiu said the test shortage was causing additional stress for patients, who were unable to confirm if they had Covid-19 or another illness.
He said people were also waiting up to seven days to get PCR test results back, by which point they were “completely meaningless”.
Dr Shiu said he was “not at all” hopeful that supply would increase in coming weeks but said he hoped governments would step in and distribute stock from the national stockpile.
“It’s not even about money, even if we want to pay for RATs they are not available, there are none in the market,” he said.
Mr Andrews would not say if areas such as Geelong would get priority access to RATs but said the distribution of the tests was “pretty good” and would be expanded as more tests arrived.
Dr Shiu urged anyone who had symptoms but could not access a RAT to isolate or seek a PCR test.
He also called on anyone eligible to book in their booster Covid-19 vaccine dose.