By Aaron Cordy
A SHORTAGE in Health Care across the country is no more prevalent than in regional communities. To see a podiatrist in Shepperton can take up to six months to get an appointment, due to the lack of skilled practitioners in these high-demand fields.
It is a crisis felt across all medical professions with the population increase but the numbers of graduates in some fields stagnating. When the fresh batch of grads are ready to take up their posts, most will be swept up by practices in Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast.
There were 229,160 registered medical practitioners in Victoria in 2022/23, up from 222,264 in 20121/22. It seems like a staggering number, but this figure includes all nurses, psychologists, dental practitioners, chiropractors, pharmacists, paramedics and Chinese medicine practitioners, etc. This figure seems healthy, and the data suggests there are 3.3 practitioners to 100 people. But if you are having issues with your feet and you need a podiatrist locally, chances are you will have an exurbanite amount of time to see one, if you get in at all.
There are 15 practising private podiatrists across the GV, Kyabram, Numurkah, Cobram and Nagambie, and most if not all are booked out months in advance. With a decrease in the number of students pursuing the field over the last few years, this will continue to get worse.
For Chris Annett of Future Feet Podiatry, the shortage of qualified Pods in the region is a battle he knows all too well. The clinic opened around March last year and has been actively seeking another qualified podiatrist since that time. In September last year his bookings were so far in advance he had to stop advertising and turn away new patients.
“I’ve never worked in the industry when I’ve had to turn away work and not want to advertise. People tell me, ‘Great you’re not looking for work, you should be happy you’re busy.’ But turning away people who need medical care is only going to create more problems for them in the future,” said Mr Annett.
It might even seem callous to turn away people in need or put them on extended wait periods. The simple fact is there’s not enough time in the day for skilled professionals to see everyone. Future Feet Podiatry isn’t the only practice, and podiatry isn’t the only field of medicine struggling to cope with the growing demand for care needed in Country Victoria, while waitlists get longer.
