GPs need dedicated COVID hotline

Transcript: AMA Queensland Council of General Practice Chair Dr Maria Boulton, Nine, TODAY with Charles Croucher and Sarah Abo, Wednesday, 29 December 2021

Subjects: Dedicated hotline for GPs working with COVID patients

CHARLES CROUCHER:     The Queensland borders have only been open 17 days, yet already COVID case numbers have surged, peaking yesterday at almost 1,200 infections.

SARAH ABO: Now GPs are calling for more support and supplies to keep their communities safe. For more, we're joined by AMA Queensland board director, Dr Maria Boulton. Maria, thank you so much for your time. You're proposing a hotline for GPs to help them cope with the growing crisis? Just how would that work?

MARIA BOULTON:     Yes, good morning. GPs have been amazing through the pandemic, looking after the community. And as we have more and more cases in Queensland where I live, and in Queensland it’s spread through Townsville, everywhere. And it's important that we resource and support GPs to be able to move into the next phase, which is us looking after patients in the community. And we're calling for a hotline to be set up for GPs so that GPS can ring for medical advice, or if we have a patient that's deteriorating, or if we have a patient that needs retrieval, something that we can access quite quickly, so that our patients can be looked after very fast.

We're calling for other things as well. So we're calling for PPE. And we're also calling for more funding and also workforce because we know that workforce is very, very tight, especially in the rural and remote regions.

CHARLES CROUCHER:     What kind of difference would this hotline make for those at the frontline? What's the current system?

MARIA BOULTON:     Well, currently, we ring our local public health unit, which sometimes can take some time, so we are on hold. And, you know, public health physicians at the moment are very, very busy. And it would be great if we could just have a hotline that we could ring, pick up the phone while the patient is in front of us or on video with us. And we can ask for immediate advice. And then we can advise the patient what to do next.

SARAH ABO:   And as these COVID numbers soar, we're seeing happen across the country, you're calling for the advice really to come to GPs. Do we think that that's going to solve this problem? I know it's reaching regional areas, which often can be hard to reach?

MARIA BOULTON:     Yeah, look regional areas, especially in remote areas, you might have one GP. And they're fantastic, they can manage almost anything, but they also do rely on having some advice. And if they can have someone over the phone that they can get quick advice on COVID, that would be fantastic. It would be very helpful, especially as case numbers soar and we become busier and busier.

CHARLES CROUCHER:      We've heard in just the last 15 minutes, Queensland will scrap the need for a PCR test for interstate travellers coming into the Sunshine State as of January 1. Now, this will make it easier with more rapid testing kits used or put less pressure on those testing queues. But it will mean likely that more cases come into Queensland, is this a move you support?

MARIA BOULTON:     I think it's sensible. The line-ups to get a PCR test, both in New South Wales and Queensland, are quite long, and it is important that people have symptoms and people who are vulnerable get tested. It's important to make sure that we don't miss out on those people.

What we're asking travellers to do is that you know you're going to be relying on a rapid antigen test, and we do ask you to please check in on yourself. If you have symptoms, do go in line up for a PCR test. And it'll also rely on people doing the right thing. We're relying on travellers to make sure that they get that rapid antigen test. I guess the question is, what's going to happen about supply, because I know it's very difficult at the moment to access those rapid antigen tests. And it would make sense for the Government to procure some more so that they're readily accessible for the population.

SARAH ABO:    Indeed, thank you so much for your time, Dr Boulton.

29 December 2021

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