RACGP president Professor Karen Price made the comments while visiting the Newstead Medical Centre in Launceston.

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Professor Price said the issue was Australia wide, but the effects were more concentrated in Tasmania.

"They're in crisis like they are all around the country, but it's a concentrated crisis here in Tasmania," she said.

"One in five Tasmanians don't have equitable access to a GP, and that will flow down in costs to the rest of the system, so from a systems point of view, it's a disaster."

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Over the last week, Professor Price visited practices in Latrobe, Burnie, Wynyard, Devonport, Ulverstone and Launceston, and said the feedback from GPs was the same.

"Workforce, workforce, workforce and funding that goes with that," she said.

"We know what the underlying issue is, everyone's talking about a crisis, but this crisis has been coming for a long time.

"Over the last 10, 20 years, the erosion of the Medicare rebate to keep pace with the cost of providing a quality service hasn't changed."

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Professor Price said with some Medicare services incompatible with modern GP care, the speciality was not being made attractive for young doctors who were entering the workforce with high student loans and other rising costs.

She said urgent funding and changes to Medicare items were needed to stop the devaluation of GPs and bring more young doctors into the field.

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