Decisions soon on after-hours GPs and Urgent Care
The Hunter New England and Central Coast Primary Health Network has confirmed that "announcements regarding both the Woy Woy After Hours Medical Service and the Commonwealth Urgent Care Clinics are imminent".
"The Network is engaged in active discussions with Dr Paul Duff about after hours GP services, which have been in place at Woy Woy for many decades.
"We acknowledge the contributions the Service has made to the health and wellbeing of the Peninsula communities, particularly the contribution and ongoing dedication of Dr Duff.
"Residents of the Central Coast and Peninsula area will not be left without access to extended hours, bulk-billed health care when it's urgent."
After hours medical service Dr Duff said: "I don't think the urgent care centres are undermining our efforts.
"Their raison d'etre seems to be to take the pressure off hospital accident and emergency departments.
"I don't see them as direct competition or an alternative to GP after hours.
"For a start, they will mostly be operating in the daytime and not overnight, so if anything they will be trying to recruit GPs away from one day job to the next, rather than asking them to work extra hours.
"They will be open weekends, it's true, so I guess they will be open Saturday afternoons and Sundays, which covers some of the time we currently do.
"But they won't be open overnight and they won't be open after 8pm."
Dr Duff said that if the after-hours clinic closed, so would its telephone service, "which currently charges $35 to speak to a GP at 3 o'clock in the morning".
"I'm sure they won't be offering anything like that."
Dr Duff said the challenge now was to recruit GPs for the service.
"I am asking them to give up some of their precious personal time to help out with our service," he said.
He said he was asking them to make a small sacrifice for the community benefit.
"I'm not asking for a lot of time, and I'm offering to pay them as generously as I can.
"Most of these doctors can quite happily make ends meet by sticking to their day job."
He said he was asking them to return, in a small way, to a culture that was reminiscent of the GP tradition of the last century.
SOURCE:
Media statement, 15 Sep 2023
Rebecca Brennan, HNECC PHN