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‘I can’t do this’: Practice closures continue
Another general practice has added its name to an alarmingly long list of clinics shutting up shop, as the owners warn ‘the situation is not improving’.
Dr Liz Chappel at the Apple Tree Medical Cairns clinic.
‘It was very hard to make the decision and we agonised for a couple of weeks, but once we made the decision, it was a sense of relief.’
That is Dr Liz Chappel, a practice owner of 20 years who, this week, announced the closure of her Cairns clinic, Apple Tree Medical.
‘I just went, I can’t do this,’ she told newsGP.
‘I went to the supermarket the other day, and we had $30 to our name, and after 40 years of working full time, I was a bit pissed off about that.’
Dr Chappel, who owns two clinics in Far North Queensland, has now begun moving all her patients and staff to her second centre, which will remain open.
Already, there has been an outpouring of support for Dr Chappel and her staff, after she announced the closure, which will take place on 30 August.
‘I couldn’t think of a better GP to have cared for my family over those years,’ one patient said.
‘I have witnessed you both pour your blood, sweat and tears into your Cairns practice. It has been inspiring to watch.’
In June, Dr Chappel spoke out after constant GP vacancies forced her to cut the clinic’s opening hours to just three days a week.
Then, she described the decision as ‘dire and unsustainable’, and now, just months later, she said that unfortunate prediction has come true.
‘I just got to the point where I could not do it anymore, and there’s a massive amount of guilt that goes along with that,’ Dr Chappel said.
‘People have been overwhelmingly beautiful, and I’ve received an awful lot of support and personal messages from team members, colleagues, and patients.
‘The situation is not improving, and I can’t see how it is quickly going to improve because the job is so tough.’
And she is not alone.
Practices across Australia, in every state and territory, are continuing to close, as the combined pressures of owning a business and operating in the current healthcare environment weigh on owners.
Dr Chappel said if this sad trend is ever to be reversed, significant changes are needed to help GPs make their practices, and livelihoods, more sustainable.
‘The registrars seem to get the qualifications, and then either go and have babies because they’ve been working for so long, or they go into a sub-specialty because it pays very well, or they work as locums,’ she said.
‘And I think if I were them, I’d do it too.
‘We’re trying very hard to recruit, we’re trying to recruit from overseas but it’s massively cumbersome.’
Earlier this month, new Federal Government modelling revealed the scope of the GP shortage engulfing Australia.
Nationally, there is currently a shortage of 2466 full-time equivalent GPs, which is predicted to grow to 5560 by 2033, and up to 8908 in 2048.
This prediction comes as, in the next 40 years, the number of Australians aged 65 and above is expected to more than double, the number aged 85 and above will more than triple, and the number of centenarians is expected to increase six-fold.
Creating a scenario where patients are older, sicker, and with more chronic conditions, at a time when GPs are in short supply.
‘How do I see the future of general practice? I’m a bit pessimistic at the moment,’ Dr Chappel said.
The RACGP has recently announced several upped incentive payments in an attempt to remedy the situation and attract new GPs to the regions where they are needed most.
But for now, Dr Chappel is looking forward to having just one practice to concentrate her efforts on.
‘Now the decision has been made, I’ve got to move forward, and my main focus, my only focus, is to come to work and do my absolute best, because that’s all you can do really, isn’t it?’ she said.
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