A regional Victorian council is playing a key role in bringing medical services back to its shire, giving doctors an extra incentive to move to the region after residents spent four months without a local general practitioner.
Golden Plains Shire Council is investing in medical infrastructure — fitting out clinic rooms in a council-owned building with specialist medical equipment and furnishings to reduce the cost barrier and make it more attractive for new GPs.
The move has helped secure two GPs and support staff to service the town of Smythesdale, 20 minutes south-west of Ballarat, who will start work in mid-November.
The last remaining GP in the town of just over 1,000 people relocated to another clinic in Ballarat in July.
Many residents raised concerns at the time about the loss of their local doctor, as limited public transport made travelling into Ballarat challenging.
A petition was circulated, with residents from surrounding regional communities like Rokewood, Cape Clear and Snake Valley also sharing how important the clinic was to them.
Golden Plains Shire secured $50,000 in funding from the Victorian Government's Living Local Regional Fund to help pay for the fit out of clinic rooms at The Well in Smythesdale.
Global Power Generation Australia, which operates the Berrybank Wind Farm in the shire, also contributed $50,000.
A successful model
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Professor Karen Price said there was a shortage of GPs in regional areas, and this type of local innovation should be celebrated and adopted in other towns.
"I have heard of it happening around the country and it is often quite successful," she said.
"These are the sorts of models we are looking at trying to develop and encourage.
"We have been talking … back in Canberra about trying to develop one health system where there is not one government jurisdiction looking at health but all government jurisdictions, including local councils."
Professor Price said the costs of setting up a medical clinic were high, so investment in infrastructure removed a big barrier.
"The costs of setting up a clinic aren't like what happened in the old days where a doctor might have purchased a property and ran the clinic out of that property which they also lived in," she said.
"Now we have a separate infrastructure cost and that is quite a significant capital investment up front for a young graduate.
"Regional and rural areas can suffer from socio-economic disadvantage, so the clinic you set up may have to charge at the lower end or bulk bill and as we know that is not sustainable for the ongoing cost of supporting infrastructure."
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler has said the state of general practice was the most concerning pressure on the healthcare system, and has been meeting with experts to brainstorm solutions.
Community thrilled with result
Ballarat Community Health had run the Smythesdale Medical Clinic for seven years, but closed it after a review of medical services and unsuccessful attempts to hire a second doctor.
Chief executive Sean Duffy said at the time of the closure it was not good practice to allow a GP to operate at a practice on their own and the cost of service delivery in a small practice was high.
"I have spoken to a number of companies and the vast majority, if not all, general practices are consolidating into larger general practices," he said in July.
Golden Plains Shire mayor Gavin Gamble said he had already received feedback from a lot of people in the shire, happy to hear of the clinic's return.
He said it would realise the council's vision of turning The Well into a health hub, with a pharmacy operated out of the same building and hopes to bring in podiatry and other allied health services as well.
"We had clear consensus and direction from the community that it was a needed facility and we always believed it was a viable facility commercially," Cr Gamble said.
"So it was a question of getting it started."
Smythesdale Progress Association member Linda Hocking-Turnbull said the return of doctors to town would be a relief, particularly for elderly residents.
"It happened to be our market day yesterday so the buzz around the market was really pleasing, the fact they felt like we hadn't been forgotten was great," she said.
