Low Medicare subsidies and staffing issues blamed for Northampton GP clinic's closure

Australia Broadcast Center

5 days ago

Residents and businesses in Northampton in Western Australia's Midwest are shocked and in limbo over the announcement its only GP clinic will close.
GP Tara Hamilton, who runs Northampton Doctors Surgery, shared the news on social media on Friday, announcing the practice would shut its doors at the end of July.
She said minimal Medicare rebates and a lack of staff had made business "impossible to sustain".
"Despite ongoing efforts for the past four years, I have been unable to recruit a doctor — locally, nationally or internationally — to continue serving our wonderful town," Dr Hamilton said.
At the last federal election, the Albanese government pledged to make nine out of 10 GP visits free by the end of the decade.
But the Royal Australian College of General Practicioners said increased Medicare rebates due to begin in November were unlikely to keep struggling rural clinics afloat.
Kandi Thorpe's parents, who are in their 70s, retired to Northampton and bought a house within walking distance of the surgery.
Ms Thorpe said the announcement came without any warning for the town's 1,000 residents.
"People like my parents, that made a plan so that they could stay in their hometown."
Once the clinic is shut, the closest town with doctors is 50 kilometres away in Geraldton.
Ms Thorpe's mother cannot drive and her father is due to undergo knee surgery in the coming weeks.
"So they're now looking at how do they get to Geraldton regularly to see a GP for all of their medical needs," she said.
"There is no regular affordable public transport from Northampton to Geraldton."
Northampton resident of 25 years Bec Reynolds said the shock closure was "sad for the whole community".
Ms Reynolds said if people had to travel to other towns for medical services, other local businesses would also lose customers.
"Obviously for the pharmacy [in Northampton], I think this will have a big effect," she said.
"If we're down in Geraldton then I'll just drop in and grab a script while I'm down there because it makes sense."
But Ms Reynolds said not everyone had the ability to travel.
"There's quite a large aging population here so they use it for things like blood tests and I know not all of them can drive to Geraldton," she said.
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners regional chair Michael Clements said the federal government's current level of Medicare investment was forcing GPs to close their doors.
"We've had many years of frozen rebates and even though the government has started investing in Medicare again, the current rebates are too small to be able to run a viable practice," he said.
"There are some rebate changes coming in on November 1, but even those are probably not enough for many rural practices to remain open.
Dr Clements said Northampton Doctors Surgery's closure was symptomatic of an Australia-wide issue with how services were funded.
"For the federal government, the levers are quite few and there aren't many ways of actually targeting small towns," he said.
"And there aren't many ways of tailoring the Medicare system to towns like Northampton.
"So we have state government and local governments needing to step in to make the service viable."
In a written statement, state Health Minister Meredith Hammat said the WA government "continued to advocate" to the federal government for "more support for GPs, particularly those in regional and rural Western Australia".
Northampton Shire president Liz Sudlow described the surgery's closure as "very, very disappointing".
She said the shire provided a low-lease surgery and house for a doctor to support the service.
In 2023, the shire responded to fears the surgery may close by implementing $600 travel subsidies for doctors.
A spokesperson for the federal Department of Health said there were a range of "targeted programs to provide incentives for doctors" to move to or remain in regional areas.
Panaceum Group operates a number of medical practices in Geraldton, which has a population of about 40,000.
Director Ian Taylor said services in Geraldton were also stretched.
"It's very difficult for practices in Geraldton, for example, to take up the slack [from Northhampton]," he said.
"We are relatively under-doctored ourselves at times and it can be quite busy."
He echoed that attracting doctors to the regions was a challenge.
Although policy and funding for medical care are primarily a federal government responsibility, Dr Taylor said there needed to be a more holistic approach to funding.