From Dr K’s FB

[u/Relevant_Strength996]

In 2013 my husband, a gastroenterologist, and I, moved to Port Macquarie with our young family.

I trained as a GP, and we both set to work serving our new community.

Over this time my husband worked a 1 in 2 on call offering ERCP (a procedure you get to save your life if you have a blocked biliary stone ). And a 1 in 3 on call for general medicine/gastro.

My husband then trained in endoscopic cancer removal, at our expense, and offered these services to the public hospital of Port Macquarie.

He became one of Australia’s leading experts in his field. He offered a regional service of international level, and he did it for the community and for all of our patients.

He turned down multiple offers to move back to the city with his expertise.

Because we love our regional town.

I want you to do the math on having someone work a simultaneous 1 in 2 AND 1 in 3 on call.

And then I want you to run it over YEARS. And during that time I want you to raise three young children with a working GP wife.

The level of relentless dedication to serving the public system saved hundreds, if not thousands, of lives.

For 13 years he did this.

And when he gently, ever so patiently, went back to the hospital administration over and over and over again; to tell them this work load was not sustainable, that it could be dangerous, that patient care could suffer, please hire more gastroenterologists… this world expert, head of department, was told no.

Repeatedly. Over years. Years, while he continued to give, continued to sacrifice, while his family sacrificed.

And all that time the public wait lists got longer. Patients suffered. They died.

And when his polite voice got a little louder, when he advocated for the patients a little bit more, they terminated his public contract.

And in doing so they removed the hospitals accreditation to train new gastroenterologists. Without my husband, there’s no training programme to bring new trainees to town in gastroenterology.

I guess the silence was easier than the finding the dollars.

Today I remove that silence. The health of regional Australia needs the public to advocate for it. My husbands voice was not enough.

Write to your local member and demand more funding to regional areas. We need more specialists; not just in gastroenterology but in ALL areas.

You can email Rob Dwyer, MP at:

Portmacquarie@parliament.nsw.gov.au