Labor MP’s were in Toronto on Friday morning, holding a doorstop with local GP’s and families to help save GP Access After Hours.

10,500 people across the Hunter have signed a petition calling on the Federal Government to abandon cuts to the service. 

Shortland MP Pat Conroy says tens of thousands of families are depending on things to turn around for the better.

“As a father of young kids, I’ve used the service many times. My older relatives have used that service,” Mr Conroy said.

“It is a great service that stops our already under pressure emergency departments from being clogged up further, and it’s part of series of attacks on health outcomes in this region.”

It’s believed the service has provided more than a million urgent consultations over the past 20 years.

The After Hours care is also estimated to have saved $21.7 million in the cost of unnecessary emergency department presentations every year.  

Hunter GP Association Secretary Lee Fong told reporters it was a vital part of the Hunter’s health infrastructure, especially for families and the elderly.

“In the after hours, GP Access provides a really urgent service to them, so if we’re talking about cutting back, maybe even removing the service, what’s going to fill that void?” Mr Fong said.

“I hear nothing except, ‘Go to the emergency department.’ That isn’t good enough. This service has to be retained.”

Paterson MP Meryl Swanson says it’s a Hunter institution, and it should be here to stay.

“For every parent that’s sat in an emergency waiting room for hours on end, at the John Hunter, at Maitland Hospital,” Ms Swanson said.

“For every parent that has tried to get their kid into see a doctor when they can’t, GP Access has been the answer, and this government wants to cut GP Access. It is death by a thousand cuts thanks to the Morrison Government.”