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The following articles have the tag super clinic
REDCLIFFE GP Super Clinic last week came under the control of Queensland Health after the local organisation behind the troubled $15 million project was ordered to tear up its federal government contract and hand it over to the state.
THE head of the beleaguered Redcliffe GP Super Clinic has confirmed the Queensland government has stepped in to take full control over the troubled $15 million project but denied it was because the company was facing serious financial difficulties.
A $500,000 Commonwealth grant has helped WA GP Hilary Fine realise her own “super clinic” vision.
QUEENSLAND Health has called an emergency meeting regarding Redcliffe's GP super clinic – Moreton Bay Integrated Care Centre – amid allegations the owner of the scandal-plagued facility is having trouble managing the clinic's affairs, MO has been told.
THE first of Townsville’s two $5 million GP super clinics will be subjected to a period of council scrutiny before it can introduce basic allied health services such as radiology and pathology, its owner has revealed.
THE federal government has reversed its decision to cancel the $5 million super clinic project in Darwin’s northern suburbs following a meeting between Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon and NT Health Minister Kon Vatskalis in Melbourne earlier this week.
HEALTH Minister Nicola Roxon has given a $3.2 million bailout to Queensland’s Redcliffe GP super clinic, just three days after another super clinic collapsed because the government had refused it extra funding. The lifeline – which takes the federal government’s spending on the beleaguered Redcliffe project to $13.2 million – follows weeks of tense negotiations as the construction company stopped work claiming it had not been paid. It also comes after the super clinic’s owner, Redcliffe Hospital Foundation (RHF), failed to secure a loan from the Queensland government and the Queensland Health Minister ...
HEALTH Minister Nicola Roxon has passed responsibility for the stalled Redcliffe GP super clinic to the Queensland government after it rejected an emergency loan request that could have revived the project. The $5 million centre was meant to have opened in June but is now under a cloud after builders fenced off the site because of a $1.5 million construction bill they say has gone unpaid for two months. The state-appointed Redcliffe Hospital Foundation, which is in charge of the project, had sought an emergency loan from Queensland – a move supported by ...
GP groups plan to use the Gillard Government’s narrow grip on power to full advantage, and are now looking for opportunities to renegotiate unpopular health reforms. With a minority government held together with a coalition of three independents and one Greens MP, Labor’s second term is likely to be marked by compromises on controversial legislation, according to AMA vice-president Dr Steve Hambleton. The diabetes scheme, practice nurse incentive payments and 23 new GP super clinics will be the subject of renewed lobbying, he said. “The fact that it was so close means that the Government and Coalition ...
GPs appear no closer to knowing what direction health system reform will take with both major parties still courting the support of independents they will require to form government. Labor’s sweeping health reforms, including the future of 23 new GP super clinics and its controversial $436 million patient enrolment and pay-for-performance diabetes scheme, now hang in the balance. Similarly, the Coalition’s promises to scrap the super clinics initiative and increase rebates for long consultations, after-hours work and practice nurses also remain in doubt. RACGP president Dr Chris Mitchell said while it was difficult to know what ...
THE AMA is enlisting the help of patients in its efforts to put health front and centre of the political debate in the lead-up to the 21 August federal election. Posters and a petition are being distributed to practices across the country urging both Labor and the Coalition to “release policies that support and preserve the vital role of family doctors in local communities”. AMA president Dr Andrew Pesce said with an ageing population and rising chronic and complex health conditions, GPs remained under intense pressure. Dr Pesce also criticised the location of some of the ...
WITH speculation rife that Prime Minister Julia Gillard will call a snap federal election, questions still hang over key planks of the Federal Government’s health reforms. While the landmark Council of Australian Governments deal struck early this year will see new monies flow to health services around the country, a sudden election could see key pieces of health reform legislation delayed. The National Health and Hospitals Network Bill – which includes provisions for the controversial diabetes scheme – remains before the House of Representatives. While it is expected to pass through the Lower House, an easy passage ...
THE Federal Government has been accused of double standards, granting concessions to a Queensland GP super clinic that it did not previously afford to a local practice. The $2.5 million Strathpine GP Super Clinic, located on the northern outskirts of Brisbane, opened in January this year and has been granted four District of Workforce Shortage (DWS) positions despite the area itself not being classed as one of workforce shortage. The concessions allow the super clinic to recruit international medical graduate (IMG) GPs, who can only work in areas of workforce shortage under the rules of the 10-year ...
THE Opposition’s controversial about-face on e-health has come under fire from all sectors, with doctors arguing the plan would be an enormous backward step.In his Budget response, Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey said the Opposition would reap savings of $467.2 million by abolishing the e-health program – a project it has previously supported. The Rudd Government was quick to pounce on the backflip, referring back to previous statements from Opposition leader Tony Abbott where he advocated a fully-functioning e-health system. In 2007, Mr Abbott, then Health Minister, said “failure to establish an electronic patient record system within five years... ...
PLANS for the Mt Isa GP super clinic remain at a standstill, 12 months after the local division charged with developing the project raised concerns that the $2.5 million allocated was insufficient. The Federal Government remains locked in a stalemate with North & West Queensland Primary Health Care, with division chair Dr Viney Joshi saying the funding would need to be doubled for a viable super clinic to be established. Former division chair Dr Harvey Roux voiced concerns over the level of funding for the project last year (MO, 1 May 2009). However, the division signed a ...
THE future of a rural NSW GP super clinic due to open next year is in serious doubt with its operator unable to recruit enough GPs to maintain stretched existing services. The Narrandera Medical Centre in the Riverina region last year won a $1 million super clinic contract, which would involve expansion of the practice. However, practice executive director Liz Romeo has written to Health Minister Nicola Roxon warning that without additional GPs to staff the clinic, existing medical services in the town may fold, and a super clinic will not be viable. The warning follows ...
A Queensland GP who has served his community for more than 20 years says his practice may be forced to fold as the result of the Government’s decision to establish a $5 million super clinic in his local area. Townsville GP Dr Liam Barry, one of four partners at the Aitkenvale Family Health Centre, said the planned 15-GP super clinic set for completion by mid 2011 would put massive pressure on his practice, which is located within 200m of the site. Dr Barry said his health centre – which already offers radiology, psychotherapy, pathology, skin checks, dental ...
AN after-hours GP service operated by a Queensland division is set to have its federal funding slashed, despite the fact construction is yet to start on the super clinic promised to replace it. The Townsville GP Network currently receives $130,000 a year to provide a 24-hour GP service to the local area. However, the federal funding agreement is set to expire in June this year, and the division has now only been invited to apply for grants of up to $50,000. Division chair Dr Kevin Arlett said they had been informed the current funding would ...
GPs in WA have been riled by claims that corporate practice operator Primary Health Care is to be awarded the tender for one of the state’s two $10 million super clinics. An anonymous letter being circulated – and obtained by MO – claims Primary has been awarded the Wanneroo GP super clinic tender, while the Midland super clinic tender has been awarded to Perth GP and former RACGP president Dr Vasantha Preetham. Each contract is worth $10 million in grants, split evenly between state and federal governments, and both clinics are located in marginal federal ...
A $1.9 million state-funded super clinic-style service recently launched in Tasmania could transform the way chronic disease is managed in the community. Operated by General Practice North division, the centre will initially focus on providing non-GP services to help manage patients with type 2 diabetes, with diabetic educators, podiatrists and exercise physiologists all employed by the service and housed in one central location. General Practice North CEO Phil Edmondson said the Launceston-based service would work with and take referrals from local GPs. “It effectively does the same as the super clinic model in providing a point ...
The first super clinic’s phase one stage is operational. What’s the prognosis after its difficult birth? Kate Woods visits the clinic in Palmerston, NT. IT’S a hard place to find in the dark. Set back from the street in the heart of a health precinct sits the new Palmerston Urgent Care After-Hours Service, on the outskirts of Darwin. There are no prominent signs advertising its presence, just a half-full car park and a well-lit but empty verandah that carries the sound of distant chatter. Three hours into the working night and the waiting ...
NSW’s Illawarra Division of General Practice is the latest body to sign up to provide a GP super clinic, recently winning a $2.5 million contract to provide a facility in Shellharbour. Construction of the purpose-built clinic – which will bulk-bill patients younger than 18, pensioners and healthcare card holders – is expected to start by the end of the year. Patients will have access to GPs, practice nurses, allied health, specialists and pathology services. It is expected to have a strong focus on acute care, preventive care and chronic disease management, and take some pressure off the Shellharbour Public Hospital emergency department. ...
One general practice in remote Western Australia has had a meteoric rise into the BRW Fast 100 list. Andrew Bracey finds out how they did it. WHEN a handful of GPs in the remote West Australian community of Geraldton saw the significant changes coming to their quiet coastal farming town, they decided to take a leap of faith. The arrival of the mining industry in Geraldton in 2005 caused rapid population growth, and presented a golden opportunity for local GPs to proactively respond to the community’s changing needs. Their vision: to privately ...
THE Rudd government’s first GP super clinic will open its doors next week, with stage one of the Northern Territory project set to provide after-hours care. From 15 December the new centre in Palmerston, near Darwin, will offer an “overnight GP service”, staffed by doctors employed through the NT health department. After 12 months in office, the new government has finalised agreements for just two of its promised 31 super clinics across Australia.
A PRIVATELY run GP super clinic in remote WA has been named as one of the fastest growing companies in Australia in BRW ’s Fast 100 list. The Geraldton Medical Group was the only health service-related company to make the list, which is measured by percentage of revenue growth over a three-year period. Revenue for the practice company – after all doctors were paid – jumped 44.6% to $2.61 million in the three years to 2007-08, ranking the business at 98 on the BRW list. Initially set up with three GP partners in ...
THE federal health minister, Nicola Roxon, has repeatedly said she welcomes robust debate on the contentious issue of GP super clinics. And that’s what the AMA has provided. We’re here to represent patients and their access to medical services. We believe the GP super clinic money should be channelled into enhancing existing GP services, or used to establish infrastructure where there is need. However, we’re working with the government to minimise the identified dangers. Relatively recent history shows failures of delivery of GP services when the government stuck its nose in. Many will remember the unsustainable ...
THE first round of super clinic tenders has opened, with the federal government inviting bids for three clinics in Queensland, NSW and Tasmania. According to documents obtained by MO , bids will be assessed not only on how closely they match the super clinic program objectives but also on their financial viability and their proposed information management systems. In Queensland, the state health department is offering bidders a land and resources package in exchange for a guarantee of minimum services, including treating a percentage of patients presenting to the local hospital emergency department.
TWENTIETH birthday celebrations for a pseudo GP super clinic in Brisbane’s north are evidence that the controversial model can work, according to the centre’s founders. The Kedron Park 7 Day Medical Centre offers 24-hour GP services co-located with pharmacy, radiology, pathology, physiotherapy, podiatry, dental services, dietitians and practice nurses. The centre – purchased by corporate medical centre operator IPN in 2001 – is also a training venue for registrars and medical students. Founding GP Dr Steve Hambleton estimates the centre has treated “most of the north side of Brisbane” since its establishment in 1988. “We ...