Condition chronic in Valley GP shortage

DESPERATE Derwent Valley doctors say they’re being stretched to breaking point as clinics close and health workers continue to move to the inner city.

Derwent Valley Medical Centre owner Lester Pepingco is pleading for help from the government, which has deemed the area not rural enough to receive staff subsidies. Under the government’s “MM” rating system the clinic falls just inside the Hobart zone, but if it were located 1.6km down the road it would classify as a level 5 rural clinic.

Dr Pepingco said it was absurd that the centre was regarded the same as inner-city Hobart clinics, especially given how scarce doctors were in the region.

Additionally, he said, the region’s rate of type 2 diabetes and chronic respiratory illnesses were three times the national average – a common pattern in rural areas.

“Our doctors are practising more complicated medicine with a sicker patient base, and we’re also an overflow unit for the royal hospital,” Dr Pepingco said.

“Our GPs are doing all this extra work, but we’re not selected for a higher MM rating. The community knows how dire it is. They’ve been putting up with six-week wait times.”

He said the problem had only worsened over the past 12 months, with four clinics closing and at least seven doctors retiring or moving away.

Dr Pepingco said some of his own staff had told him they planned to move in the coming months to city clinics, and that others were dangerously close to burnout.

He has written to Tasmanian Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff, begging that the region be given an MM rating of at least three so it can attract new health staff and retain old ones.

Derwent Valley Council Mayor Ben Shaw has also spoken to Mr Rockliff in the hope that he can sway his federal government colleagues.

Councillor Shaw said one of his friends is currently on a five-week waiting list just to see a GP, and that others in the community were similarly exasperated.

“We’re going to be seeing an increase in people wanting appointments here in the Derwent Valley, but they just can’t provide them,” Mr Shaw said.

“The state and federal governments, in my opinion, need to get their heads together and sort it out not only our region, but all regional and rural areas in Tasmania.”

Australian Medical Association Tasmanian federal area representative Annette Barratt said the federal government’s MM rating system had been harming Tasmania since it was introduced.

“The MM model was introduced in 2015 to replace the District of Workforce Shortage model,” Dr Barratt said. “The changes … have created huge problems for Tasmania.”