The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) is set to open a permanent healthcare clinic in one of South Australia's smallest and most remote towns.
The clinic at William Creek, a tiny town located on the Oodnadatta Track, 210 kilometres north-west of Marree and 166km east of Coober Pedy, will operate in place of services being provided at the famous and historic William Creek Hotel.
Funding for the project has come via a $1 million grant from the federal government's Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program.
Costs beyond $1 million will come from fundraising and donations to the RFDS.
The RFDS lands its aeroplanes at William Creek about 30 times a year for fly-in community health clinics and to take critically-ill patients to major hospitals.
Community members will be able to use the clinic when waiting for flights to arrive.
It will house digital health technology for patients to contact doctors for consultations, diagnoses and first-aid advice.
Boon for locals and tourists
About 26,000 tourists pass through William Creek each year on their way to see Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre and the Simpson Desert.
William Creek Hotel owner Trevor Wright said the clinic would help attract more people to the town, as well as looking after residents.
"We want people to come out here, we want our locals looked after, we want everyone — it's for everyone, it's a holistic situation," he said.
"And this is a really big step, visionary, looking forward.
"I think this will be the template for the rest of Australia — not South Australia, but the rest of Australia."
Chantelle Williams, whose family owns the Anna Creek cattle station that surrounds William Creek, said the new clinical room would help local women.
"I've had a pap smear on a hotel bed that the poor doctor had to sleep on that night — it's pretty confronting, isn't it?" she said.
RFDS Central Operations already operates healthcare clinics at Innamincka, Marree, Andamooka and Marla.
RFDS Central Operations chief executive Tony Vaughan said the William Creek clinic would be slightly different because it would be unstaffed apart from visiting RFDS clinicians.
"It'll have state-of-the-art technology in it to allow locals to go access that clinic and talk back to our medical staff in Port Augusta," he said.
"I'm hoping that we're going to be back at the end of this year to open the clinic; that's the plan, that's when the grant money runs out, so we're on a tight timeline."
Politicians tout investment
Federal Regional Development Minister Kristy McBain visited William Creek for the funding announcement, along South Australian state ministers Geoff Brock and Clare Scriven.
Ms McBain said it was a "huge investment" in local healthcare along the Oodnadatta Track.
"It is getting busier and busier," she said.
The funding was gained through the Outback Communities Authority (OCA), a state government agency that operates limited council-like services for remote areas.
Ms Scriven, South Australia's regional development minister, said the announcement of the clinic was a "great achievement" for the OCA and the town.
"Moving forward, this is going to mean that our regional and remote areas have better services and that's good for the local community and good for travellers and the tourism economy as well," she said.
