GPs across the Illawarra are being warned to watch for burnout after a report by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) found more than half reported it as a significant issue.
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Severe staff shortages, governmental policing and inflation are all causing a huge amount of stress for general practitioners to be able to provide the best quality of care, one health expert said.
One of the directors of Bulli Medical Practice, Dr Julie Blaze, said COVID was a particularly hard time for the health sector but her practice was lucky to be able to cope efficiently.
"Firstly recognising that GPs are human beings like everybody else and are susceptible to all ailments that everyone else is quite important," she said.
According to a report by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), 58 per cent of Australian GPs reported that managing fatigue and burnout was one of their top challenges in 2021.
Australian Society of General Practice president Dr Chris Irwin says GP burnout is a real issue and one that needs to be addressed.
"There are a number of reasons responsible for GP burnout and one of the main ones is the government's relationship with GPs," Dr Irwin said.
Dr Irwin shed light on the relationship of fear and distrust created by a government body by penalising doctors for billing certain amounts associated with certain services.
"The Medicare compliance team called Professional Standard Review usually sees billings for long appointments as suspicious and calls for an audit," he said.
A GP who wants to spend more time with the patients, fears to do so, so as not to be flagged by Medicare, Dr Irwin said.
"Most GPs are always worrying about an item number they billed even if they were absolutely right to do so," he said.
Dr Irwin also expressed his dissatisfaction with the way the government makes decisions for general practices without any consultation or discussion with GPs in the first place.
This makes general practitioners feel devalued and out of the loop, he said.
"During COVID, GPs were learning about changes in guidelines from the media instead of being included in the decision-making process," he said.
Dr Blaze's years of experience in the industry make her eligible to speak of GP burnout and the ways to address it.
"We had to be really thinking on our feet and guidelines would change all the time but we took it as a challenge and we did well," Dr Blaze said.
Dr Blaze said even though the pandemic made the staff feel overwhelmed at times, availability of practice resources and infrastructure and the team's support for each other made the task manageable.
"Doctors often think they're on one side of the table and ill health is on the other but that's not the case," she said.
Dr Blaze said the health sector is under a lot of pressure and some of it could be attributed to the billing system.
"Ours is a private billing practice but some bulk billing practices are struggling due to the frozen Medicare rebate," she said.
Dr Irwin said the current bulk billing model is not a viable one for running a practice.
"GPs are constantly having to think about managing their expenses when all they want to do is focus on the quality of care," he said.
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Zaina A Sayeda
Zaina Sayeda covers general news at Illawarra Mercury. If you've got a tip, email zaina.sayeda@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Zaina Sayeda covers general news at Illawarra Mercury. If you've got a tip, email zaina.sayeda@austcommunitymedia.com.au
