But a decision not to include a new at home bulk-billing service on the list was simply due to its owner not responding to a request to be including before printing deadline, Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network (PHN) has said.

Print outs of services were a regular occurrence, PHN chief executive officer James Lamerton said. “We do it every year, it’s just a bit of community service,” he said.

Evidence was growing more Wagga residents were not seeking medical advice during business hours and were instead leaving it to later in the day, he said.

Services such as the GP After Hours Clinic on Morgan Street had seen more than 100 visitors in June this year compared to that month last year.  

“I don’t think it’s a spike, I think it is more of a consistent rise,” Mr Lamerton said. “I think it is just a matter that people are happy with the service and people are using it as their de facto GP service.” 

Cure Home Doctor started operating in Wagga at the end of May. The service, which offers fully-bulk billed visits at home on weekday nights and weekends, has been met positively by residents who say it is a much-needed addition to a city that has few fully bulk billing doctors.

But after hours home doctor services have been scrutinised by the government. There is some concern they could be receiving a higher rebate – sometimes as much as four times the normal rate – for cases that should be seen by an GP within business hours. 

Prominent Riverina GP Bob Byrne said he has also noticed a trend towards night time doctor visits. 

This was why incentives, such as the higher Medicare rebate, were being offered to after hours home doctor visits as a way to ease the system, he said. “The expectation of the population is to certainly have available 24/7 type arrangements,”  Dr Byrne said.

“Say if a mother has a sick child with a fever and they are not sure what is wrong, they need to identify it.

“Because a feverish child can have a few things wrong; from a simple upper respiratory tract infection to meningitis, so they need to have their sick child identified quickly.”

Muhammad Mohsin, who owns Cure Home Doctor Service, said he did his own magnet drop before opening.