Molong medico backs rural specialist call

Molong's Dr Robin Williams has called for some “positive discrimination” in favour of rural GPs and has supported new measures called for by the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) and the Australian Medical Association (AMA) last week.

Dr Williams said working in rural general practice was an experience far removed from that of his metropolitan counterparts.

“Certainly, GP work in the bush is much more complex and also involves emergency work at the hospital. In Molong we do emergency care. In bigger centres like Mudgee, GPs have to do obstetrics and anaesthetic as well. The big problem is that Australian doctors just don't want to come to the country. I think it does come down to financial compensation,” he said.

The RDAA and the AMA have called on the Federal Government to introduce a rural isolation payment and a rural procedural and emergency on call loading to better support rural doctors, with an estimated cost of $300 million per year.

As one of three full-time doctors in Molong, Dr Williams is on call one in every three nights.

He recently moved from Gulgong, where he was on call every second night.

“I was in Gulgong until recently and people could easily wait three weeks for an appointment. We tried to make room for urgent appointments but if you're called to hospital it throws out all surgery work,” he said.

Many rural GPs are over 50 and attracting younger doctors has been a challenge for country towns.

Yeoval has now been without a doctor for its hospital for nearly a year, despite efforts by Cabonne Council and the Greater Western Area Health Service to attract a new practitioner.

Dr Williams said young doctors would not come to the country unless it was worthwhile for them.

“The newer generation are more pragmatic. They have to be because they come out of university with huge debts. They can earn more money specialising. Maybe we should recognise that rural general practice is a specialty,” he said.