Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My first question to the Minister for Health is: will the minister urgently look to reform the distribution priority area system to allow bulk-billing GP clinics, like those in Carrum Downs and Frankston in my electorate, to recruit doctors to service the people in my electorate? The minister would be aware that I have raised in this parliament and written to him about four different GP clinics in my electorate. Dr Ravi Ravoori from the Myhealth Bayside Medical Centre has said to me that the DPA classification needs to change because he cannot attract doctors to his area.

I wrote to the minister recently and outlined the situation where the only female doctor working in that clinic has had difficulties finalising her exams as part of her SAPP placement, significantly due to COVID. She can no longer work at that clinic. Dr Ravoori cannot recruit a female GP to that clinic in the Bayside mall, which the minister, who comes from my area, would be aware is an enormous shopping centre that has, extraordinarily, something like 400,000 people going through it a week. That is the bulk-billing clinic in the centre.

Dr Ravoori's concern is that there is now no one specifically to deal with the mental health issues of people who attend that mall. It has been a very successful model. Dr Naseri, who can no longer work there, has been responsible for that mental health. If Dr Naseri is unable to get her medical practising certificate, as Dr Ravoori says, it's the DPA classification, which does not set Dunkley as an outer metropolitan priority area, which will prevent him from recruiting another doctor.

Two of the other medical clinics that I have raised previously and have written to the minister about are part of a group of medical clinics. They are specifically the Ballarto Medical Centre, on Ballarto Road in Carrum Downs; and St Mary Medical Centre, which is on Frankston-Dandenong Road in Carrum Downs. It is becoming a desperate situation for these two medical clinics, which provide bulk-billing services to some of the most socioeconomically disadvantaged areas of my electorate. It means that the medical clinics are struggling to function, but, as the minister would be well aware, it also means that members of my community can't access health care when they need it.

Very recently, Rachael Hatzopoulos, the group operations manager for these two clinics, wrote to me again. She wrote: 'I wanted to touch base with you both again'—myself and my electorate officer Lauren—'to see if there is anything that can be done to try to help us. The Department of Health have made it impossible to recruit doctors to a bulk-billing clinic in a metro location. We have struggled so much with the St Mary Medical Centre especially. We open until 10 pm and all weekends and public holidays, and rely on one doctor for after hours. Our three other GPs in St Mary are so heavily booked with patients and cannot do any more than they are doing. Our patient demand is far greater than our capacity. We are turning patients away daily and often after hours have to direct them to emergency when they could easily be handled in primary care. It is so ironic given the television commercials I am seeing that say "don't call 000 or go to emergency; see your local GP". It's a very big contradiction.'

'A few weeks ago it was quite upsetting that someone put a post in one of the community notice board pages about how bad our waiting times are. We do take appointments, but patients also know if they are unwell they can walk in when needed. There were a subsequent 60-odd comments of complaints about how we should just, quote, 'Get more doctors,' along with many other comments. We have done so much to try to get more doctors to offer more appointments to patients, without any success. We have many doctors that contact us wanting to work, but the Department of Health and immigration restrictions make it impossible. I am just reaching out with the hope you may be able to help us.'

As I said, my question to the Minister for Health is: will you urgently review the entire system, but specifically these medical clinics and the issues in the electorate of Dunkley? Affordable universal health care is under threat because GP clinics that bulk-bill cannot get doctors to service some of the most vulnerable members of my community.

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