Medic alert in Cygnet

Huon Valley Guessing Games When you see a quarter-page ad in the Cygnet & Channel Classifieds (February 20) predicting a “bright future ahead for Cygnet Medical Services (CMS)”, you sense that Huon Valley Council (HVC) is in high-spin mode — and that its medical centre is in danger of spinning out of control.

Then you see an item in the Sunday Tasmanian (February 23), in which Mayor Robert Armstrong reiterates that, even though popular GP Dr Phil Crawford is about to leave the practice, Cygnet Medical Services has “a bright and viable future”. Armstrong assures us that the two days a week that Crawford has been working at CMS will be replaced with “three days of GP coverage”.

At the moment, the only thing that looks fairly certain about CMS (though I’ll take no bets) is that Dr Nirosha Athukorala — who everyone I’ve talked to seems to like — will, as the council’s ad says, remain “available to assist you and your friends”.

Of course, I’m only guessing on any of these matters. That is mainly because it is rare that anything is truly straightforward when you notice council is hard at work on its PR pump.

The shock around Cygnet since it became evident a few weeks ago that Crawford would be leaving (his last day is March 3) has been palpable. The first hint that he was on the way out was when a local sailing club member reported that, when she phoned CMS for a consultation, she was told that “Dr Crawford’s books are closed”. Crawford, I am informed, was very surprised at the news of his lack of availability.

About that time, my phone started ringing quite often. “We’re losing the best doctor Cygnet has ever had,” said one member of a family that’s been in Cygnet for decades. He thought something odd was going on at CMS — and he said that, in future, he would be staying with Crawford by going to the Sandy Bay practice, where his favourite doctor also practises. Others have told me the same.

Another patient speculated that the practices of Cygnet’s two longest-serving GPs — known affectionately among locals simply as Dr John and Dr Denis — might have something to do with CMS’s curious behaviour. I have not come across evidence to support or scotch that theory — but one never knows.

Several CMS patients tell me they have received letters from council, personally addressed to them, saying that, as well as Dr Athukorala, Dr Angela Retchford (based at council’s Geeveston Medical Centre) will be at CMS for consultations on Wednesdays, and that a Dr Keith Anderson will also be there four hours every Monday.

One patient said the most interesting thing about the letter he got was that council had failed to say in it that Anderson had only been taken on for four weeks. Another patient, who also believes this to be the case, said the council’s letter “tells me that he [presumably meaning Mayor Robert Armstrong] is copping some flak”.

A relative newcomer to Cygnet said he was appalled at the news of Crawford’s departure: his ageing mother had at last found the perfect doctor — and now he was leaving town! “I’m annoyed to lose the best GP I’ve ever known . . . He is a huge loss for Cygnet,” he said.

A RETIREE CMS patient, also lamenting the loss of Crawford, was ready to speculate further: he thought it might have something to do with misunderstandings and differences between council and members of the medical profession. CMS was “fortunate to get someone with Philip Crawford’s experience and capability”, he said; and even “when other local doctors refused to come to CMS, council then reduced his (Crawford’s) work days from five to two, and tried to steer new patients to Dr Nirosha by having reception staff say Dr Crawford had ‘closed his books’, which was untrue”.

He continued: “The whole thing smacks of council mismanagement, because council has known for months that Cygnet Family Practice (CFP) was closing down in June, thus removing two doctors from the town’s facilities.” That final comment refers to another loss looming in Cygnet.

On Friday, June 13, the CFP’s Drs Annette Hackett and Neil Cremasco, and nurse practitioner Kerrie Duggan, will treat their last patients. CFP began operating three years ago at SETAC (South East Tasmanian Aboriginal Corporation) premises on Channel Highway. It seems SETAC now wants for its own use the space CFP is occupying.

In a carefully — diplomatically? — worded letter to the Classifieds (February 20), Hackett wrote: “We have explored many options — renting, buying, shared health facilities — but none have met our criteria. The requirements for a medical centre are quite particular (and expensive), and include parking, disabled access, an adequate number of rooms . . . ambulance access . . . This all costs money, and, despite popular belief, general practitioners are not made of this.”

Cremasco, I hear, is leaving soon to live in New Zealand, and it seems Hackett is unlikely to consult in Cygnet again, or at least not in the near future. It is to be hoped the services of nurse Duggan will not be lost to the area.

Hackett, in her letter to the Classifieds, talked of “when our last option was found not to be viable . . .” but she did not reveal what that “last option” was. It would be interesting to know. Many think they do know — but they don’t want to talk about it.

So far, nothing has been heard from Crawford. Council simply says he “has advised us he will be leaving the practice on March 3”.

WHEN I arrived in Cygnet six years ago, I couldn’t get on either of the two local GPs’ books: they were too darned busy — and neither was getting any younger. The nearest available GP was at Huonville, 20km away.

However, by three years ago, four GPs were working in Cygnet; then there were five; and then six — which meant everyone in the region could have a local doctor.

But now, with the end of CFP only a few weeks away, and an uncertain picture about GP availability at CMS, the locals are getting worried. And restless.

With the exodus of three GPs, Cygnet Medical Services should be expecting to get an avalanche of potential-patient approaches — certainly enough to fill the books of at least three full-time doctors. What is needed now is a council that is willing to come to grips with what it takes to make Cygnet an attractive place for GPs to practise in. It doesn’t look as if it has been doing that so far.

This crisis presents an opportunity for Mayor Armstrong to demonstrate the leadership skills he feels he’s got to merit throwing his hat in the ring for a seat on the Legislative Council, Tasmania’s ridiculous upper house of parliament. — Bob Hawkins

Note: It’s amazing how, when personal interests are at stake, requests to me to “write something” soar, yet only the odd concerned soul gets het up when serious threats arise to the well-being of the community as a whole. Cygnet’s GP issue should serve as a reminder to the greater public of the Huon Valley that their local council will only perform at its best when it is kept on its toes as a result of community interest. See you all at council’s next meeting! Just joking!