A comprehensive study of Canberra's general practices will help determine whether the city has enough GPs to meet its present and future needs.
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Recent surveys have indicated the GP shortage has eased in the ACT but Medicare Local chairwoman Rashmi Sharma said more information was needed on where and how often doctors were working.
''What we're working with now is anecdotal,'' she said. ''We know how many people we've recruited but we do not know who has stayed.
''To do your health planning, you need to be quite accurate with your numbers.''
Medicare Local has commissioned a study of how many doctors, nurses and allied health staff general practices employ and when staff plan to retire or leave.
Dr Sharma said while many GP patients reported finding it easier to make appointments, there could be pockets of the city where this was not the case.
''For example, Gungahlin town centre has a phenomenal number of GPs within a two-kilometre-square area,'' she said.
A joint program between Medicare Local and the ACT government had succeeded in recruiting 13 GPs to work in Canberra from interstate and overseas.
Dr Sharma said the ANU medical school was also helping to grow the GP workforce.
''What we're seeing now is that we've got our ANU graduates coming into general practice, so I think we had our first registrar graduate six months ago,'' she said.
Dr Sharma said some practices had changed their bookings systems to make it easier for people to get same-day appointments during peak times, such as Monday mornings.
''Practice support is also providing those practice skills to look at your bookings and look at, should you be doing your pap smears on a Monday when they could be done on a Friday or a Wednesday so you can the fit in the people in who've waited over the weekend?''
Dr Sharma said reports showed the ACT had fewer doctors per capita than other parts of the country but it was possible Canberra did not need as many GPs as other cities.
''There's a definite difference because of socio-economic differences and you may actually need fewer per head,'' she said.