GP shortage spending details not provided

The Government and Department of Health have failed to provide details of spending of "the $100,000 commitment to fix the Peninsula GP shortage", according to NSW's Labor Senator Deborah O'Neill.

Senator O'Neill said she had asked the Department of Health at the Senate Estimates Committee in March how the money was used, about the terms of reference for the working group given the money and its outcomes.

She said that, despite a deadline of April 20, the information had not been provided.

Senator O'Neill said that, last May, Member for Roberston Ms Lucy Wicks and Assistant Health Minister Mr David Gillespie announced a $100,000 commitment to begin a working group comprised of local health professionals.

"At the time, Ms Wicks and Mr Gillespie claimed it was a 'new approach to overcoming GP recruitment issues on the Peninsula' and the working group would 'identify both short term solutions and longer term strategies to recruit and retain GPs'.

"Since Ms Wicks' announcement, we haven't heard anything about the $100,000 and how this public money has been spent," said Sen O'Neill.

"We don't know how many meetings this working group has undertaken, what the terms of reference are or if this group still exists.

"Peninsula residents deserve to know the outcomes of this public expenditure and they still have no access to local GPs," she said.

"I urge Ms Wicks and the Turnbull Government to come clean and answer these basic questions because the community has the right to know how their public money is spent," she said.

SOURCE:

Media release, 3 May 2018

Rhys Zorro, Office of Senator Deborah O'Neill