After hours service will continue

The Woy Woy After Hours Medical Service will continue to operate as an after-hours general practice service from Woy Woy Hospital.

However, there will be a few changes, according to local GP and the current chairman of the service, Dr Paul Duff

The after hours service, which has been operating for 33 years, came to crisis point last November because of doctor shortages in the area.

Rather than close the service down, the GPs of the Peninsula rallied and in cooperation with the newly formed Northern Sydney and Central Coast Area Health Service came up with a plan to keep the service alive.

"It has really been an extraordinary six months," said Dr Duff.

"At our annual general meeting last November, there was unanimous and vehement agreement that we local GPs just could not stretch ourselves any further.

"We were having trouble meeting commitments to our regular daytime patients.

"The burden of also providing what was, in effect, an all-night general practice was just getting beyond us," Dr Duff said.

The Woy Woy After Hours Medical Service was formed back in 1972 by the GPs who provided the medical staffing of Woy Woy Hospital, a role they still play today.

"This was back in the days before Medicare when the number of specialists on the Central Coast could be counted on one hand, the number of people on the Peninsula was only a fraction of what it is today and the local GPs ran the Woy Woy Hospital," Dr Duff said.

"The after hours service was set up as a way of coordinating those GPs into providing a true overnight casualty department for their hospital.

"It was a miracle that three decades later, in spite of the total transformation of the provision of medical care in Australia which had occurred, that this type of GP after hours service was still being offered.

"It was, and still is, a unique service."

But by last November the strain had become too great, according to Dr Duff.

"We have, on average, been losing the equivalent of one full time GP per year on the Peninsula for the last 10 years," Dr Duff said.

"Whole practices, my own included, have closed under the pressure and there is no let up in sight.

"The average GP age here is now in the mid-50s with no young blood coming in and many more retirements only a year or two away.

"Little wonder that by the time of our AGM there was open discussion about withdrawing from Woy Woy Hospital completely in order to keep our own practices going.

"It is a resounding testament to the commitment of those GPs and NSCCH to their local community that they took the path they did."

Rather than just walk away, the Woy Woy After Hours Medical Service organised a forum to discuss ways to preserve the service.

In February, representatives of the State and Federal Departments of Health, the Northern Sydney Central Coast Area Health Service, the Central Coast Division of General Practice, the Hunter Urban Division of General Practice, the Bridges After Hours Medical Service, the Maitland After Hours Medical Service, the Northside After Hours Medical Service and of the local federal member

Mr Jim Lloyd accepted an invitation to meet with the Peninsula GPs and discuss options to keep the service alive.

"It was a turning point from which the local GPs gained some heart and new hope," said Dr Duff.

"Since then we have been continuing our negotiations with the Northern Sydney Central Coast Area Health Service and we are pleased to be able to announce that after hours GP services will still be available at Woy Woy Hospital, but with some changes commencing June 13."

"It is important that people realise that this is an after hours service.

"During the day on weekdays Woy Woy Hospital has no doctors on site," said Dr Duff.

"During these hours Peninsula patients should see their usual GP or attend Gosford Hospital."

Between 7pm and 11pm weekdays, 12:30am to 11pm Saturdays and from 8am to 11pm Sundays and public holidays the Woy Woy After Hours Medical Service will continue as it always has, seeing anyone who presents to the front door of Woy Woy Hospital.

After 11pm the doors of Woy Woy Hospital will close to the public and Woy Woy After Hours Medical Service will become a telephone advisory and home visit service.

A sign at the hospital front door will advise on how to either call the on-call GP or attend Gosford Hospital.

"We did this so that the doctor on call will have some chance of sleeping in their own bed between busy days at their own surgeries seeing their own patients," said Dr Duff.

"So you will be able to speak to a GP at any time overnight and if a home visit is medically necessary this can be arranged after consulting with the doctor."

To cover costs the use of the Woy Woy After Hours Medical Service phone number will attract a fee which will be added to the caller's phone bill.

This will only happen after an introductory message which explains the service, gives its operating hours and outlines the costs involved with continuing the call and in arranging a home visit

"Security is such a big issue these days," said Dr Duff.

"Doctors doing home visits have been assaulted and even murdered for money and drugs.

"We have no choice but to involve a security guard in any house calls.

"This is a cost that we will have to pass on to the patient, so unfortunately it will also be impossible to bulk bill any home visits."

In spite of these changes Dr Duff said he was very pleased with the outcome.

"Our service still complies with the best practice of any service from Sydney to Newcastle," Dr Duff said.

"In terms of hours, availability and cost, you will find nothing better.

"At the same time, we continue to provide medical care to the inpatients of Woy Woy Hospital and all of this without a single cent of Federal Government funding outside Medicare."

Speaking on behalf of the area health service, chief executive Dr Stephen Christley said that he was pleased that Woy Woy After Hours Medical Service had managed to continue its long-standing service for the local community.

Press release, June 7 Kerrie Jackson, Woy Woy Hospital