THE region’s doctor shortage and a massive increase in patients at Horsham’s emergency department has put financial strain on the Wimmera Health Care Group.
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The group has released its 2016-17 annual report, with shows an operating deficit of $1.1 million.
Chief executive Catherine Morley said while the health care group had been in a difficult financial situation for the past few years, a number of new challenges meant it was trending worse than before.
She said in the past year, the number of people presenting at the city’s emergency department had increased by more than 23 per cent.
“Compared with the rest of the state, that is a significant jump,” she said.
“We’ve had to put on more doctors in the emergency department to deal with the increase.”
Ms Morley said Horsham’s population was growing by three per cent each year.
“We also have a doctor shortage that is not just affecting Horsham, but the whole region,” she said.
“Places like Kaniva and Jeparit haven’t had a doctor for a while, so there are shortages in the Hindmarsh and West Wimmera areas, which means more people are coming to the Horsham emergency department.
“If someone is sick in a nursing home in the region, and there is no doctor, they come to Horsham.
“We are seeing constant increases across all days and times.”
Ms Morley said the health care group didn’t have enough doctors to cope with the demand.
“We then have to spend a lot of money on locum doctors, which has a significant impact financially, but we can’t not have doctors available,” she said.
“Our biggest cost is our staff, and it is really difficult to attract and retain people.”
Ms Morley said the health care group was doing what it could to try to rectify the situation.
“The government has given us some money, which we will use to try to increase services and get more doctors into medical clinics,” she said.
“We are trying to do what we can to support people and make sure they have access to good quality care in a timely manner.
“We are looking at if we have the right model of care, or if there is other things we can do, like run a sports injury clinic to help with services that don’t have to be provided by a doctor.”
Ms Morley said Member for Mallee Andrew Broad was also working with the group to find solutions to the doctor shortage.
