There are fears that the effect of doctor and nurse shortages will be amplified if an outbreak of coronavirus occurs in regional Australia, where long wait times for GPs and stretched hospitals are a common part of life.

Key points: GPs are concerned that most regional facilities have no intensive-care units and limited surge capacity

GPs are concerned that most regional facilities have no intensive-care units and limited surge capacity Ensuring adequate supplies of personal protective equipment for rural health services is another top priority

Ensuring adequate supplies of personal protective equipment for rural health services is another top priority Some rural pharmacies are reporting shortages of antibiotics and other medications

Intensive-care capabilities and ventilators are limited in regional hospitals, but contingency plans for the coronavirus crisis are underway, according to Adam Coltzau from the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA).

"The major concern is really staffing, so a lack GPs in rural and remote parts of Australia is a significant strain on how the plan will come together," he said.

"There is also a shortage of nursing staff and allied health in rural and regional parts of the country."

Dr Coltzau said patients needing intensive care might need to be moved to metropolitan hospitals, with most regional facilities having no intensive-care units and limited surge capacity.

Loading...

"There are plans underway to try and increase the capacity of smaller intensive-care units in regional areas to try and increase the number of ventilators available to put people on."

Doctor and supply shortages

Wangaratta GP Julian Fidge said regional areas did not have enough doctors as it was, let alone to cope with coronavirus.

He said governments needed to step in with extra services and supplies.

"We've never had enough GPs. The doctor shortage will be amplified with coronavirus, because if any of the doctors become ill, it will put more pressure on the rest of us," Dr Fidge said.

"We have no capacity to suddenly conjure up a nurse to man a triage line, or a spare nurse to take swabs or a spare doctor. It's just not possible."

Adam Coltzau says doctor and nurse shortages will put a strain on health services during an outbreak. ( Supplied: RDAA )

He said it was critical that contingency plans were put in place.

"I'm optimistic that up here at least we have a plan; we have a plan for a small, medium and large response beginning with one of these respiratory clinics or fever clinics shortly."

Dr Fidge said he was also concerned about supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) for regional and rural health services.

"All of the local practices and hospitals have a limited amount of PPE, and the Federal Government has a swag of masks, but we also need gowns and face shields.

"Everything gets sucked up by the cities and so we get the bare minimum to go on with."

Emergency measures

Sean McManus from the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) said most anaesthetists worked in elective surgery and could be deployed to regional areas.

"In a time of crisis, as elective surgery is obviously curtailed, you might find that there's a workforce there that's prepared to help out with other areas," he said.

"I suspect the patients that need intensive care will need to come to the bigger hospitals anyway, and so you would probably find that anaesthetists may be involved in helping to transfer those patients."

Julian Fidge has worked in Rwanda and East Timor and says governments need to step in with extra services. ( Supplied )

While remoteness worked to the advantage of communities in limiting their exposure to an outbreak, Dr McManus said there would be challenges getting care and equipment to them if required.

"How do you actually get equipment, masks, gowns out to remote area health clinics — that's something that I think will be a challenge.

"I think people should really be reassured that we have a whole cohort of people highly trained in this area, particularly in the intensive-care environment."

The Federal Government announced this week that 100 coronavirus clinics would be established across the country; RDAA president John Hall said rural and remote locations should not miss out.

"We will also be closely monitoring the location of pop-up respiratory clinics to ensure that, where they are needed in rural and remote areas, they are set up in a timely fashion.

"Given the key role that general practices play in providing frontline health care in rural and remote communities, it will be critical that they receive as much support as possible in responding to any local outbreaks of the virus in their communities."

Rural pharmacies running low

Rural Pharmacy Network Australia said it was receiving widespread reports of members experiencing shortages of antibiotics and medications for conditions including asthma, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Network spokeswoman Katie Stott runs a pharmacy at Dover in Tasmania, and said she, like many others, was having trouble sourcing stock.

"That's leading to a situation where we're having to ration supply as well, which is a major concern for rural patients," she said.

"We've got considerable health disadvantage in our rural communities, and that's now coupled with this looming threat of coronavirus."

Katie Stott says some pharmacies are running low on critical medicines. ( Supplied )

Ms Stott said the Government should intervene to ensure all Australians could access the medicines they needed.

"We think the key concern is that large pharmacy groups have been advised to buy ahead and that they are maybe buying more than their immediate needs require, and that's throwing the whole system out.

"The PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) is supposed to ensure equity of access to medications for all Australians, but it seems the system is not currently working if rural patients are going to be experiencing shortages."

She said another major concern for rural areas was that they only had one pharmacy and sometimes only one pharmacist.

"If that pharmacist has to go into quarantine, either to self-quarantine because they've been potentially exposed, or if they come down with this virus themselves, we're very concerned about what that will mean for smaller rural towns in terms of potential pharmacy closures."