A SEVERE lack of senior doctors available in Waikerie has placed the remaining three doctors practising at both the medical centre and hospital in a “crisis situation”, with waiting lists backed up over a month and likely to remain that way for at least another year.
Dr Ken Wanguhu says doctors practising in Waikerie are in a “unique” situation as they also provide on-call care to the Waikerie Hospital and “run off their feet”.
“Over the last two years, the Waikerie Medical Centre (WMC) has lost three full-time senior doctors, one part-time doctor, and one who is on long-term leave,” he said.
“We aim to see four to six patients an hour, so that equates to easily over 100 appointments lost every day.
“The doctors at the WMC also cover the Waikerie Hospital; between the three of us, we each are on call for the hospital twice a week and one weekend every two to three weeks. When we are on call for the hospital, we can’t book patients, which means we are down another 20 to 30 appointments each day.
“On top of that, we have not been able to hold onto any trainee registrars.
“Lately, many of them have become overwhelmed by the amount of work needed here, or they prefer being close to the city and suburbs.
“We are in a really desperate situation.”
The WMC currently has three senior doctors, one junior doctor, and one trainee registrar, with the latter two requiring some supervision.
Dr Wanguhu said the WMC patient waiting list had become “critically long” as doctors struggle to keep up with work flow.
“The WMC has not been able to hold onto any registrars since Dr Mibus... and as we keep losing senior staff, it’s really become a crisis situation,” he said.
“This hasn’t been for a lack of trying; the WMC has been advertising constantly, both locally and overseas.
“But this hasn’t been successful – even before COVID-19 made things more difficult in attracting doctors to stay.
“The trainee registrars in particular struggle with the amount of after-hours (work) required from them, and it scares them off. They must experience more than one practice during their training, and they find the amount of work required of them here overwhelming compared to many other practices.
“The three doctors are currently on call for the Waikerie Hospital every day. As I have to cover, they have to provide the junior doctors with support or supervision, as well as cover anaesthesia and obstetrics.”
With Waikerie’s ageing population, Dr Wanguhu said residents required more time and work from the doctors, but the waiting list is “agitating” many people.
“Patients, while sympathetic to us personally, are not happy with the situation at large, which is understandable; Waikerie is an aging population, and our services are more and more in demand,” he said.
“Because of the shortage of doctors, the other staff at the WMC are working at capacity, and should not be blamed for not being able to provide appointments with a specific doctor at a specific time, try as hard as they might.
“We still want to provide top service to our patients. The WMC fills a community need for people who are so involved in and with the town, but we’re just in a crisis.
“It’s not coming, it’s here, now. The doctors here are working above and beyond; they’re not unwilling, just overwhelmed.
“The only silver lining I have to offer is that the WMC has signed up for a State Government internship program next year that will hopefully bring more interns and registrars to the town, and encourage them to come back and stay as they become accustomed to the workload, which in turn would ease off as the interns return as registrars.
“We’re asking for the community’s patience and understanding during this very difficult time; this is going to be the norm for at least the next one to two years.
“We welcome feedback on how we can better utilise out very limited medical resources.”