Alannah Mactiernan (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to advocate on behalf of a GP in my area, Dr Stephen Wilson. Stephen has been running a medical practice in the area of Bassendean for some 32 years. He is incredibly committed to his area. He is certainly not a man who delivers six-minute medicine. In fact, Stephen averages only four patients an hour because of his commitment to quality care. He delivers after-hours care and is totally committed to his patients. The practice that he runs is 70 per cent bulk-billing. On top of that, an additional 15 per cent of his patients have heavily discounted fees. Because this practice is not a big income generator, he is simply unable to compete for doctors with more lucrative practices. So for the past 14 years they have not had a female GP in the area and he has struggled to get more than 10 hours of assistance from other GPs in this area.

The state medical bureaucracy is heavily behind Stephen. Today I have spoken to the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health in WA. As far as he is concerned, Stephen satisfies all the requirements of being in area of unmet need, and he knows that Stephen has been applying unsuccessfully for assistance. Unfortunately, we are not receiving assistance from the Commonwealth. I have tried to take this matter up with the relevant Assistant Minister for Health. Let me give you some idea of the statistics. In the area of Bassendean the ration of GPs to population is one to 4,800. That compares with the WA average of one to 1,500 and the Australia-wide average of one to 1,277. We have a very dire situation here in the town of Bassendean and covering Ashfield and Eden Hill.

The Medicare Local has explained at great length the real problem that we have here. They have done a detailed assessment of this area and they have found that its health needs are well beyond those of the average area. For some time, and despite the best endeavours, there has been limited access to general practitioner provision. The stats show that they have a significantly lower use of healthcare centres than the metropolitan state average, an increased rate of accidental falls in children and a very high rate of diabetes, stroke, arthritis, heart disease and asthma—all much higher than state average.

We have got a situation here, so I beg the government and the Assistant Minister for Health to make some practical moves. This is not considered to be an area of workplace shortage, notwithstanding the clear facts that it is. Just across the river the area of Midland, which is also within the Perth metropolitan area, is acknowledged to be an area of workplace shortage. I ask the minister to deeply consider this case and the plight of Dr Wilson, and to give approval for him to bring in a GP he has found from the Republic of Ireland. I think it would be a great win-win for our community and for the minister.