Doctor shortage leaves Macleay Valley's pharmacists under pressure to fill healthcare gap

"When I started working here I didn't think I'd be challenged as much," he said

But while there are fewer clients, their need for healthcare is greater.

"Because of the doctor shortage here and because of the lack of medical services, we really get a lot of pressure," he said.

"It's good pressure because it means what we do contribute you can see [it has] a real positive outcome".

Mr Chahoud and his wife Elein have just taken over South West Rocks Pharmacist Advice, which had been in the Osborne family for 70 years.

They'd been running Peter Needs Terry White Chemmart just down the road on Memorial Avenue, and were well aware of the strain on medical services and the town's general healthcare challenges.

When Mr Chahoud first moved to town he went door knocking to better gauge the needs of the community.

"I found out it was access to health," he said.

The owners increased their opening hours during the week until 7:30pm and extended weekend trading, allowing them to take on patients coming out of Kempsey Hospital.

In the 2021 floods, the Terry White pharmacy was acting as a 24-hour business to work alongside State Emergency Services (SES) and were on-call with NSW Health.

As the new pharmacist to town at the time, Mr Chahoud played a huge part in helping the town through COVID-19 and the demand for Rapid Antigen Tests.

Mr Chahoud would drive to Sydney and come back the same day with the tests for the community, especially helping those that needed to travel between state borders.

"My proudest moment was when we had a queue of nearly 500 people [lined up outside] because they needed RATs" he said.

The second pharmacy acquired lends itself to improved facilities to better service the regional area currently dealing with delays in medication deliveries.

The Chahouds plan to build a lab in their Prince of Whales shopfront to "service the whole Macleay region".

The on-site lab will be used to compound specialised medication currently made only in cities which will alleviate days of delay waiting for delivery.

"Today I ordered some medication for someone that is only done in Queensland or Sydney so that's a delay of two or more weeks for them to get started on therapy," said Mr Chahoud.

"We've had patients travel to Newcastle themselves to pick up their IVF medication".

Resident Keith Monk who moved to the area 48 year ago remembers when the town had no doctors and the pharmacist, Rex Osborne, was the only medically trained person.

"We've improved a bit but we still want more doctors," he said

The lab is anticipated to take a year and a half to build, and while the Macleay waits for the new service and continues to deal with the challenges of getting in to see a doctor, the pharmacists will continue to take on some of the load.

"We get a lot of people presenting to us because they can't get in to see a doctor," he said.

"The lab will open up that extra service for another 50 - 100,000 people."

The pharmacist believes a benefit to the Macleay is the ability to build strong relationships with other health care providers in order to work together.

"The beautiful thing about South West Rocks in particular is having integral network with your GPs so we have a very strong relationship with them...sometimes we take photos and text them to the GP...we collaborate really well with one another".

Mr Chahoud says it's the profound impact on people's lives that makes pharmacy his passion.

"We've even been able to help get early cancer diagnosis".

"We're an easy and accessible healthcare provider who are well equipped to know when to refer and when to step in and provide a solution".

The South West Rocks pharmacists are triage-care trained and often dress and care for wounds and were presented a contract for the NHC program through NSW Government.

"When people call up for triage they can be referred directly to us," said Mr Chahoud.

"It's exciting to bring on these new incentives and programs and it's just the start".

Ms Chahoud says her husband can spend 20 minutes with a patient dressing wounds.

"A lot of people here, demographically, are elderly and they have very fragile skin and sometimes you need that extra time. Of course there's nurses here that can do it, but sometimes they can't fit in all the customers," she said.

Debra Fooks is a locum pharmacist from the city helping out in regional areas, currently working at Crescent Head Pharmacy 700kms from home.

As a previous owner of a pharmacist in Brisbane, Ms Fooks says the demand on services is "potentiated when you go to a country, rural or regional areas".

Ms Fooks has been locuming, which is the medical version of freelancing, for over 20 years and what started as just a couple of weeks a year, the stints in regional areas have increased greatly in the past five years.

"I find everywhere that I'm working at the moment they are well and truly in need of more help, particularly GPs in the area who are just flooded."

Ms Fooks and her husband travel around Australia allowing over-worked pharmacists some time off.

"We had friends who owned pharmacies out west and they just couldn't get any time off ever so we started going out to help them and we'd get relievers into our pharmacy in Brisbane, so that's how it started with my locuming in regional communities."

The pharmacist says she is passionate about providing good quality healthcare for all of Australian citizens.

"I love that you're making a difference."

Ms Fooks believes Australia needs more pharmacists going out to help in our rural communities, and that needs to be a government incentive.

IN OTHER NEWS: