Medical centre staff call for patience amid a spike in abuse from members of the public

Port Lincoln’s medical staff have called out antisocial behaviour and abusive online comments towards them as “disrespectful” and “inappropriate”. 

In the past two years Lincoln Medical Centre has lost seven of its doctors and staff at the clinic said some had left due to the mounting pressure and abuse they faced most days.

Six GPs now share 16,000 patients on the books — about the same number as the population of Port Lincoln.

General manager Nicole Norton there had been an increase of inappropriate behaviour towards her staff since the start of the pandemic.

“They’re very stressed, there’s a lot of pressure on them already.”

“The clinic feels we’re only being reminded by the bad that a patient feels they have gone through, rather than all the good that we have done.”

Ms Norton said she was disheartened to see someone post on Port Lincoln’s Rant and Rave complaining about their practice and naming one of their doctors.

The general manager, who has worked at the Lincoln Medical Centre for almost 15 years, said if someone has an issue they should go straight to her.

“There’s no need for a post about a GP to go to Facebook,” she said.

“If you want something to happen, if you want a change, if you want me to be alerted by it and other practice managers you have to let us know.

“These doctors have got families in these communities, it’s not fair for [family members] to see these posts about their parents who are working very hard for our community.”

The pressure on doctors has been compounded in regional areas like Port Lincoln due to the shortage of both doctors and medical staff.

Since the pandemic, some patients have faced wait times of up to three months for medical appointments.

Lincoln Medical Centre services people from across the entire Eyre Peninsula and visitors, as it offers services that are not available in smaller towns.

“We want the community to understand that when we say we’ve gone from 13 doctors to six doctors, we haven’t lost patients,” Ms Norton said.

“We still have to find the capacity for patients to see a GP. We need patients to respect and understand that there is only so many people a GP can see in a day.”

“They’re not robots.”

Ms Norton said patients had also become frustrated by consultation fees but the clinic still offered bulk billing to all concession card holders, children and patients over the age of 70.

“I have worked for LMC for 14 years now and in this time I have watched the Medicare rebate go from $37.05 to $39.75.

“Unfortunately, the small rise of this isn’t enough to cover the cost of medical equipment, wages, expenses on the building etc.”

Nationwide problem

Australian Medical Association SA president John Williams said the mistreatment of staff was not isolated to Port Lincoln.

He said it was a nationwide issue due to increased pressure on medical clinics.

“It is something that almost all clinics in every part of our health system, from the top to the very bottom is really stretched.”

“This is really difficult for patients we understand that. I understand the frustration but please vent it to the people who can change things, that’s our politicians on a political level.”

‘Write to your local MP’

Dr Williams said the only way for there to be productive change is for people to write to their local MP and call for better access to healthcare services.

“From the AMA perspective we’re advocating for better health care for our community.

“What would really help would be for our patients to go to our local member of parliament. This is about support and investing in health for our future; it’s not a cost, it’s an investment.

“Health is complex and it’s expensive but it is an investment. This is for our future and the future of our children.”

He also said that private businesses had the right to exclude people form coming into their practice if they’re being violent or threatening towards staff.

Ms Norton said patients could also go through the public system if they weren’t happy to work with them.

“At the end of the day, we’re going to try and help all our patients that call. Our doctors, the directors of Lincoln medical Centre, they always put their patients.”

“As a community, between the public hospital and the private clinics we all do work together. We’re all here for Port Lincoln. We’re not here for our individual clinics to help and serve as well as we can.”