Doctors called to save after-hours service

Local doctors have been called to put their names on a roster to save the AfterHours Medical Service at Woy Woy Hospital.

If most doctors respond, a commitment of as little as one evening every couple of months could be enough.

“This practice will close if more doctors don’t join us,” said Dr Paul Duff, a director of the service.

He said the service was operated by a non-profit cooperative of local doctors.

“A few years ago, most of the doctors who worked on the Peninsula shared in the workload of running the after hours service,” he said.

“This meant that doctors would do a weekday evening once every one to two months and two to three weekend days per year.

“This was a small extra effort, even for very busy GPs, to make sure that all our patients could access GP care 24/7.”

The roster had fallen from more than 40 doctors to “barely a dozen”, one in five of the 55 doctors currently working on the Peninsula.

“Some of the doctors on our roster are close to retirement or have retired and are only contributing because of the sense of loyalty they feel to this community and to their colleagues.

“Unfortunately, over the last few years, many local GPs have withdrawn from the service