Regional medical clinics intended to reduce pressure on hospitals have delayed opening or are open on reduced hours due to doctor shortages.
Hundreds of paramedics in Victoria have had their private medical information leaked.
Employees and job applicants had their data uploaded to Ambulance Victoria’s internal website – including 42 spreadsheets detailing pre-employment drug and alcohol testing.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews last year announced funding for 25 priority primary care centres to ease the burden on the state’s strained emergency departments.
Out of the eight clinics promised for regional areas, one clinic has not been able to open due to a lack of doctors, while others are operating on reduced hours.
Just two regional clinics — at Baw Baw and Latrobe — have opened on a full schedule: 16 hours a day, seven days a week.
At Bendigo, a clinic building has been found and set up, but has not been able to operate as administrators search for doctors.
“Workforce recruitment, a nationwide issue, is the key reason for the delay in opening,” a Murray Primary Health Network spokesperson said in a statement.
The Victorian government has funded 25 priority primary care clinics to ease the pressure on hospital emergency departments. Regional clinics have struggled to find enough staff to open full-time. Pictured: Premier Daniel Andrews and health minister Mary-Anne visiting the Glen Waverley Priority Primary Care Centre in April. Picture: David Crosling/Herald Sun
The clinic, which has been advertising for doctors since January, aims to open in June, the spokesperson said.
Another clinic, at Mildura, was open just one to three days per week.
Sunraysia Community Health Services chief operating officer Janet Hicks said the clinic was opening whenever a local GP could spare time to work an extra shift on top of their normal schedule.
The clinic was aiming to recruit the equivalent of 1.5 full time doctors to open eight hours a day, seven days a week, but until it could do so, “(opening hours) will really vary on a week by week basis,” Ms Hicks said.
The clinic had already had strong demand after opening its doors to walk-in patients for the first time on Monday, she said.
Loading embed…
Mildura PPCC aims to reduce demand at Mildura Base Hospital’s emergency department, which has swelled after GP chain Tristar Medical closed abruptly last year, leaving thousands of locals without a GP.
Victorian Agency for Health Information data shows 7575 patients attended the Mildura hospital emergency department in the three months to March this year – almost 1000 more people than in the same period in 2022.
Local GP clinics have been stretched to their limits. Murray PHN data showed all but 20 per cent of GP clinics in the state’s north west have closed their books to new patients, and about half of all clinics were unable to take appointments within the next week.
At Bendigo hospital, the number of people attending the emergency department fell slightly in the January to March quarter compared to the same period last year, but the hospital appeared to be under increased strain, with average waiting times ballooning from 94 minutes to 130 minutes, according to VAHI data.
Just 26 per cent of GPs in central Victoria had appointments available within the next week, Murray PHN data showed.
A Victorian government spokesperson said in a statement doctor shortages were a result of policies put in place by the former Coalition federal government.
“After a decade of neglect from the Morrison Government – Medicare was broken. Victorians couldn’t get in to see a GP at all, let alone one who bulk bills,” she said.
“Despite primary care being a Commonwealth responsibility, we stepped in to deliver Priority Primary Care Centres across Victoria – making a real difference in reducing demand on emergency departments and giving more Victorians a free alternative for their urgent care needs.”
Loading embed…