Talk to a doctor's receptionist or practice manager - that's if they can spare the time - and it won't take long before you hear the stories of angry patients, abusive phone calls and long hours spent trying to deal with the paperwork around COVID jabs.
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But now it seems there is an extra concern as people from outside the area try to access COVID vaccinations in the Bega Valley - although whether it's for the vaccinations themselves or just a chance to escape lockdown and have a day or two away is not clear.
Jodie Meaker is the practice manager at Bega Valley Medical Practice where they have opened up for online vaccination bookings just recently.
"Last week when we opened up for (online) booking, we had a lot of people interested but noticed some were coming in from outside the area," Ms Meaker said.
"One was a family of seven in Sydney, and in lockdown, who said they would be hiring a minibus to get down here," she said.
Ms Meaker told them they should not be travelling outside of their own residential area, but the person she spoke with insisted they could travel, because it was for health care reasons and to get a vaccination.
"I rang the local police. People are breaking the local health orders," Ms Meaker said, adding that the police were very supportive and told her to phone them straightaway if anyone from out of the area turned up at the practice.
Needless to say Ms Meaker refused to take the family's booking.
But that wasn't the end of it.
Just on Tuesday, August 17, she had a phone call from a woman in Mt Druitt wanting to book in for a vaccination and another person from Wollongong.
"We are not accepting bookings from outside the Bega Valley," Ms Meaker said.
Anyone booking online must fill in a consent form which asks for details such as address and Medicare card number. Ms Meaker said sometimes those are left empty and so they phone the person to find out more and that's when they discover where the would-be patients live.
But it is adding an extra workload for the team as they check where people live.
"We're happy to provide the vaccine for anyone in our community, but someone coming in from outside, it would just put the whole Bega Valley at risk," Ms Meaker said.
READ ALSO: Where to get a vaccine in the Bega Valley
At Bega's Canning St Surgery, the problem is more about abusive or angry behaviour.
"We're trying to do the best we can. People are apprehensive, we understand that but we're getting slammed," practice manager at Canning St Surgery Cyn Tucker said.
She has put out a plea for people to respect the work being done in GP practices and refrain from bad behaviour.
"It's a very trying time for everybody. We're still trying to manage the usual general practice patients and workload while at the same time running COVID vaccination clinics," Ms Tucker said.
"It's actually a very big process. There's reporting that has to be done to the Australian immunisation records and to the My Health records and it can be time consuming," she explained.
In addition to the daily reporting, there is a certain amount of paperwork associated with each person who receives the COVID jabs.
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Denise Dion
Regional daily news journalist on the Far South Coast of NSW. Contact me on 0418 213 780 or at denise.dion@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Regional daily news journalist on the Far South Coast of NSW. Contact me on 0418 213 780 or at denise.dion@austcommunitymedia.com.au
