Last week Hunter Primary Care, which runs the GP Access After Hours service, confirmed it planned to close its Calvary Mater clinic and reduce its operating hours, due to current funding not keeping up with operational costs. A petition launched by the federal member for Newcastle, Sharon Claydon, has since collected close to 8000 signatures to "save'' the service. Community members have also lent their voice to supporting the "much loved" and "well used" GP Access.

Rev Dr Judy Redman, of Fletcher, said the closure and reduction in hours at the service would have a "run on effect" which would add further stress onto busy emergency departments. It was not only people on low incomes that needed access to a bulk billing doctor.

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Dr Redman and her husband had attended the John Hunter Hospital emergency department twice, once for a broken arm, and again for a suspected stroke.

"We spent four-and-a-half hours there one day, and more than six hours on another," she said. "Then my husband had something crop up that we'd have gone to see the GP about, except it was Sunday. So we rang GP Access and they did a very careful triage over the phone.

"He was in and out in 45 minutes, which was much better than the four-to-six hours in emergency. We also weren't holding up people who needed urgent care."

Bonnie Rae, of Mayfield, said it was an "extraordinary" decision not to properly fund the service, particularly now.

"As my boys have grown up, it always seemed that sicknesses always happened at night," she said. "It wasn't always an emergency, but it was something that perhaps needed to be addressed. The blessing of GP Access, with that triage at the beginning, was that it either allayed your fears or gave you an opportunity to go in and have a consultation with a GP. We don't want to lose a service that removes the need to spend excessive time in emergency, that also removes some of the strain on emergency services."

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