GP shortage leaves elderly stuck in hospital waiting to be signed out

Susanna Freymark

*Gail, 97

Gail is 97 years old and has been in Casino Hospital for 15 days. She is not well enough to go back to her home. Her daughter Judy and Judy’s husband Derek are in their late 70s and are unable to care for Gail at their house. After a lot of phone calls, Derek found a nursing home that would take Gail. It’s going to cost a lot of money. But Gail can’t leave the hospital. She needs a GP to sign her out. Gail’s GP left and for some reason the clinic didn’t get her a replacement doctor. Gail has no GP. The hospital GP can’t sign her out. Derek has been ringing every doctor in Casino to take on Gail as a patient.

No one will do it. Either the doctor’s books are full and they aren’t taking new patients or they don’t do nursing home patients.

Gail waits in hospital.

*Gladys, 91

Joan’s mother-in-law Sara is in an aged care facility in Casino. Sara’s GP retired. All the other GPs Joan called were unwilling to take on new patients. Eventually she found one after a lot of searching.

“The situation is dire,” Joan said.

“It’s a bit ridiculous. If there’s only specific doctors in town that visit nursing homes then they either need to take new patients for this purpose or something needs to be done in getting a doctor or two in town specifically for this purpose.”

*Colleen, 86

Michelle’s mother, Colleen is 86. Colleen has dementia and when she broke her hip she went into Casino Hospital.

“The ward in the hospital is like a nursing home. They have nowhere else to go,” Michelle said.

Colleen ended up being in hospital continuously for more than 35 days which meant she had to pay after the 35 days. Luckily she had private health insurance. Michelle said there was no doctor for Colleen at Casino Hospital so she was transferred to Lismore Base Hospital where she was put in the surgical ward for two weeks. Colleen’s doctor had left and Michelle pulled out all stops to get a new one for her mother.

“Doctors, nurses and wardies are doing the best they can. They are already under pressure,” Michelle said.

Colleen will be going home and her daughter will look after her. She has a GP now. And is more fortunate than most.

What can be done?

The shortage of GPs in regional NSW has been serious for a long time. And it has reached crisis point for those needing a GP and for the hospitals who care for patients who should be in nursing homes, not taking up a hospital bed.

Ms Saffin said that if this situation is prevalent in hospitals across our region, she felt sure the Northern NSW Local Health District would give it a high priority.

In 2021 there was a parliamentary inquiry into regional health care in NSW. The inquiry received almost 700 submissions including many from anonymous accounts from frontline doctors and nurses.

The inquiry highlighted the doctor shortage in regional areas. This is a problem that is getting worse.

We asked the Minister for Women, Regional Health and Mental Health Bronnie Taylor, Federal MP Kevin Hogan, State MP Chris Gulaptis, Northern NSW Local Health District and Healthy North Coast about this crisis.

We are waiting for a response from them and will update this story when more information comes in.

*We have changed the names in our case studies to protect the privacy of the families.

Doctor, doctor give me the news – and please sign my mum out of hospital
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