Respiratory clinics offer relief

With daily COVID cases in WA climbing above 8000, general practice respiratory clinics are providing relief for people unable to get an appointment with their regular practitioner, by providing face-to-face consultations for those symptomatic or COVID-positive.


There are 11 GPRCs in WA, founded in 2020 by the WA Primary Health Alliance on behalf of the Australian Government as part of a $206 million investment to establish 150 GP-led respiratory clinics across the country. And as the state approaches peak case numbers, they are seeking to remind GPs and other primary healthcare workers that they are a resource that is there to be utilised.

Dr Mary Wyatt, who operates Next Practice Victoria Park and the Victoria Park Respiratory Clinic, shared that one of the biggest difficulties that GPRCs face “has been enabling the community to understand that they can go to respiratory clinics – people just don’t know, they haven’t been educated about GPRCs.”

“The message that needs to come out is that we do exist and that we need to have a wider reach within the population – letting people who want to make an appointment with their GPs know that even if they are not able to see them, if you need to be examined then contact your nearest respiratory clinic,” Dr Wyatt said.

“We came into existence because of COVID – for GPs in a situation where they feel it may be unsafe to see a patient with respiratory symptoms as they could potentially contract COVID themselves and bring that into their practice. We have always been there (during the pandemic) to see symptomatic patients – you have to be sick to be seen in a respiratory clinic.”

In June last year, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners defended doctors who refused to see young children and people with respiratory symptoms, and in September, the Ambulance Employees’ Association spoke out about parents resorting to calling ambulances or attending hospital emergency departments, after a South Australian mother shared her experience of repeatedly being turned away from GP clinics as she tried to secure an appointment for her two-year-old son.

And while West Australians have been largely supportive of the state government’s restrictions, some patients have still expressed anger at their GP when unable to access a face-to-face consultation.

“That’s actually occurred in my clinic,” Dr Wyatt said. “I’ve had patients upset in my general practice because of the fact that we won’t let them in to the practice because there’s a chance that they could have COVID. But if someone is symptomatic, they actually shouldn’t be walking into a GP practice – would you want to sit next to someone who has a cold in this environment?

“Many surgeries have offered carpark consultations, but one of the reasons that many GPs may find it difficult to provide this service is that they are quite dangerous in and of themselves: one of my GPs was almost runover during a carpark consult.”

By comparison, GPRCs offer a dedicated, fully equipped facility to assess and treat people with mild to moderate respiratory conditions, including COVID, as well as testing and vaccination services.