Country residents paying three times to keep local doctors

A report has found seven councils in regional Western Australia are spending nearly $1.7 million to attract and retain local doctors.

A regional council says the cost is unsustainable, and federal government needs to fund the gap.

There is hope a not-for-profit clinic model proposed in a small town in WA's Midwest can provide a path forward.

A West Australian country town is handing over 16 per cent of its annual rates income in a bid to keep a local doctor.

The arrangement in Narembeen, 280 kilometres east of Perth, is one of several detailed in a new report by the Local Government Rural Health Funding Alliance, aiming to shine a light on the increasingly unsustainable conditions country councils face to attract and retain local GPs.

The Shire of Narembeen pays the local medical practice $370,000 a year, while also providing its building, a car and a house under its current agreement.

It is an arrangement Shire President Holly Cusack concedes is unsustainable financially.

But the alternative for the community if the GP closed — a 120km round trip to the nearest doctor — is worse.

"One of our top priorities is a doctor in town, so we will keep providing that," she said.

"But all the other sort of things we provide for our community, they'll all start falling off."

Narembeen and six other local governments commissioned the recent Alliance report, which used information from 30 councils across Australia.

It found the seven councils collectively spent about $1.7 million each year to attract and retain a GP.

The report said rural ratepayers effectively paid for their medical care three times: through the Medicare levy, the consultation fee and their council rates.

Cr Cusack said the combination of high costs and small populations added to the challenges facing doctors.

She said the federal government had a responsibility to fund the gap, rather than leaving it to local councils.

In Kalbarri, 780km north west of Narembeen, a community group has hatched a plan to bring back medical services without overwhelming costs to ratepayers.

The town's only GP closed in June, leaving more than 1,500 people facing a two-hour round trip to see a doctor.

The Kalbarri Development Association (KDA) crowdfunded more than $70,000 to set up a not-for-profit, bulk-billing clinic that would be run by a community board.

KDA chair Merilynn Eastland said it was unacceptable that many country towns paid to prop up private GP businesses.

"Any money we made would come back to the community, it doesn't go into any individual pockets."

Ms Eastland said the initial funds would be used to try to lease the Shire-owned clinic and cover set-up costs.

"We believe at the end of 12 months we will be well and truly profitable," she said.

Ms Eastland said similar not-for-profit clinics were operating across the country, and represented a way forward for smaller communities.

The tender for the clinic is expected to be awarded at the next Northampton Shire meeting, in November.

The challenge facing smaller towns is laid bare in Donnybrook, where locals are fighting to secure one of the town's two remaining medical practices.

Donnybrook Medical Services (DMS) says the cost and terms of its lease from the local council, coupled with operational costs, were a threat to its viability.

The clinic had leased the building from the Shire of Donnybrook-Balingup since 2021, with the lease expiring this year.

Local Samantha Wright started a petition to keep the practice in town, which has attracted more than 400 signatures.

"There is genuine concern and panic that if Donnybrook Medical Services were to close, we would lose seven doctors from this community," she said.

"I've got a daughter with additional needs and a chronic disease … I'm a single mum of four children and it's hard enough as is."

The shire said it was reviewing DMS's interest in purchasing the site from the WA government and the building from the council.

A state government spokesperson said the closure of any regional GP was concerning, and it would continue to advocate for federal government action.