The Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) is calling on all states to provide urgent health care exemptions, following reports that patients are not able to access urgent care as a result of state border restrictions, while hundreds of doctors, nurses and other health workers have not been able to attend their usual workplaces, resulting in the loss of vital health services to the community.

"We have patients who can't access the closest intensive care," RDAA president Dr John Hall said.

"We have the completely unacceptable case of the parents in Lismore who had their permit application declined after their baby was airlifted to an intensive care unit in Queensland.

"Also in northern NSW urgent neurosurgical services are unavailable. The availability of emergency stents for people having heart attacks have been affected.

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"Patients who are booked in for urgent surgery across the border are now unable to be treated. Important follow-up appointments are unable to be carried out.

"Doctors, nurses and other health staff in many cases have to choose between working or staying with their family across the border.

"Many health services have had to be reduced due to the restrictions placed on staff.

"This cannot go on and needs an urgent solution."

Dr Hall said the RDAA calls on the states, particularly Queensland, to "stop being obstructionist and just do the right thing here".

"Yes we need a response to COVID-19 that limits it's spread," he said.

"But when it comes to health care an entirely new crisis is being created by the enormous disruptions to the provision of care.

"We are all Australians. We have a national health care system that has not been designed to be segregated by state. Referral pathways for medical treatment regularly cross state boundaries.

"These draconian restrictions are having a real impact on people's immediate and long-term health and this has to stop. Exemptions for accessing health services are urgently needed."

With reports from the UK indicating that for every death from coronavirus itself, a further two occurred because of the lockdown's wider impact, access to care is a critical issue that should not be ignored, Dr Hall said.

"The other health costs of COVID restrictions, such as blocking access to important medical care, is an area that state governments have not wanted to address," he said.

"People are missing important cancer screening checks, which could result in their bowel, cervical or urgent skin cancers such as melanoma going undetected.

"We are likely to also see a surge of complications from undiagnosed diabetes and heart disease which again can easily end up in a fatal heart attack or other life-threatening complication.

"Urgent action is needed to both restore access to impacted medical services, and to encourage patients to continue to seek the care they need.

"Increasing the barriers to care during COVID-19 is only extenuating the health crisis of this pandemic disaster."