Rural Health West survey reveals Mid West one of three regions to see increase in GPs

The Mid West’s healthcare workforce has been boosted by four extra GPs, according to a comprehensive survey that saw this region emerge better than the State average. A 4.4 per cent increase in GPs was reported in the Mid West in 2022 compared with the State average of a 2.2 per cent rise. In Rural Health West’s annual GP survey, the Mid West placed second in the State for rising GP numbers, behind the South West, which gained 18. However, the Mid West in fact broke even, with four GPs leaving the region last year. That decline was the lowest “proportional departures” from any region. The annual survey recorded a total of 911 GPs working in rural and remote communities at the end of November 2022, compared with 891 at the same time in 2021. Rural Health West CEO Tim Shackleton said while the increase in overall numbers was welcomed, there remained an uneven distribution of doctors across the State’s seven health regions. The South West was the most populous region with 300 GPs, or nearly 33 per cent of the State’s total rural GP workforce. The increases were offset by some regions experiencing reductions in GP numbers — for example, the Wheatbelt lost 10 GPs and the Goldfields lost three. There are 85 GP vacancies across regional WA listed with Rural Health West, 33 of them classed as high-priority. A high-priority vacancy is described as a community’s access to a GP being at risk if a doctor leaves the area. Of the current vacancies, 10 are in the Mid West and Gascoyne. The data indicated international medical migrants were providing huge relief to the healthcare community, comprising 56 per cent of the 122 GPs who had joined the permanent workforce. The most significant increase in GP numbers was fly-in, fly-out and drive-in, drive-out GPs, with an additional 15 doctors starting work during the 12-month period. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners visited Geraldton last week in a bid to gain insight into regional GP experiences. Executives from the RACGP said their mission was to bolster GP numbers in the region and invest in the field now, which would help relieve strain on the hospital system in the future.