The federal government has refused to commit extra funding to save GP Access After Hours from the closure of its Mater Hospital clinic and reduced hours of others in response to a request from Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon.
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In a letter to Ms Claydon, Health Minister Greg Hunt's Chief of Staff said Hunter Primary Care, which runs GP Access After Hours, should write to the NSW government on the matter as it had reduced its funding contribution to the clinics since 2020-21.
Hunter Primary Care recently confirmed the GP Access clinic at the Calvary Mater will shut from December 24, while clinics at Belmont, Maitland and John Hunter hospitals and Westlakes Community Health Centre will have hours reduced.
The letter said there had been a "reported drop in demand for services at the GP Access clinics" and patients could access other GP Access clinics, Newcastle After Hours Medical Service and the mobile medic service.
"Additional telehealth appointments will also be available under a model implemented in 2020 by Hunter Primary Care, with funding from the PHN (Hunter New England Central Coast Primary Health Network), which has been well received by the community," it said.
Ms Claydon said these weren't adequate solutions and the letter was "an exercise of pointing fingers".
"This Liberal Government is so clearly caught up in their Canberra bubble that they think the solution to the closure of the GPAAH clinic at the Calvary Mater Hospital is as easy as telling the tens of thousands of people who use the service annually, to just move-on to the next available clinic," she said.
"As another 'quick-fix', the letter also directs families to use telehealth services or attend private practices... with no regard for the constraints and up-front costs of using these services.
"Local GPs are already warning us about the inadequacy of the Medicare rebates to cover the cost of Telehealth. They don't have any certainty that telehealth is going to continue and that it's viable in the long-term.
"This pathetic response is nothing more than a slap in the face to the 11,100 people who have signed my petition to say hands-off our GPAAH service."
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