Westbury Medical Surgery is staffed by three doctors, but with one set to leave the practice in late October and another retiring at the age of 83, the town could soon find itself in a medical no man's land.

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The Westbury practice is part of the Your Health Connect network and group general manager Roman Kiselev said the loss of staff would have a direct impact on the community.

"You can imagine what the waiting list is going to be like after these two doctors leave, our capacity to service patients will be reduced," he said.

"Obviously we will be reducing the number of patients we're going to be able to attend to."

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Mr Kiselev said the issues facing the regional GP sector were systemic and said he would like to see the government assist with attracting and retaining staff in rural areas.

Acting Health Minister Sarah Courtney said Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff had written to the Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt seeking additional support for GPs working in rural and remote areas of Tasmania.

She said support for GP recruitment was available for practices through HR Plus, Tasmania's rural workforce agency.

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Mr Kiselev said with wait times to see a doctor exceeding three weeks, the practice had been relying on nurses to triage and prepare patients to reduce the burden on doctors.

He said services nurses provided were not recognised by Medicare so the practice was unable to bulk bill - further compounding issues for rural patients.

Mr Kiselev said the Medicare system should be amended to meet the needs of the changing healthcare system and implement Medicare codes that would allow patients to be bulk billed for a wider range of services.

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Ms Courtney said the federal government was the primary funder of GPs through Medicare, and offer a range of incentives and supports based on a national classification system.

Mr Kiselev said if the practice could not meet the basic medical needs of the community, patients would be forced to rely on hospitals in the public health sector placing a further strain on emergency rooms.

"If a patient cannot see a doctor for two or three weeks and they are unwell they'll be going to the hospital and they will overload the emergency department," he said.

"The focus needs to be put on primary health and GP clinics more than it currently is, the funding, the Medicare rebates, the incentives for GPs to move, you know there are some now, but clearly not enough."

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