The shortage of doctors in Australia is affecting both patients and health professionals, as waiting periods for an appointment keep getting longer.
The Rural Doctors Association says there is a staffing crisis in medical services across the country and doctors are feeling the pressure of increasing waiting times.“They feel obliged to continue to work for longer hours, to not take necessary breaks for recreational leave and study leave because they feel that commitment to their patients, so it’s not a good situation all around,” explains Nola Maxfield, national president of the association.
According to Grant Baker, chairman of the Riverland Division of General Practice, long waiting periods have been a problem for years. “More and more red tap and bureaucracy that seems to take up our time and maybe that’s at the expense of seeing people with health problems.”
