WORK has begun on the new $10 million South Morang GP Super Clinic.
Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek and the Member for Scullin, Harry Jenkins, visited the Civic Drive site, near South Morang station, last week.
The super clinic will focus on child health, intellectually and physically disabled patients and chronic disease.
The federal government has allocated
$650 million to build 60 super clinics, which will have a number of health professionals in the one building, including general practitioners, nurses and allied health professionals.
The policy has been criticised for undermining existing services and there are fears there aren’t enough doctors to staff the clinics.
The Australian Medical Association says that besides problems with building delays, funding and a failure to recruit enough medical staff, the expensive super clinic program will not reach the vast majority of the community.
AMA president Steve Hambleton said his organisation was “against huge chunks of government money to fund operations that competed with existing services”.
Northern Health chief executive Greg Pullen welcomed the new clinic, which he said would work alongside Northern Health to improve care for clients requiring both community-based care and hospital treatment.
Mr Jenkins said the clinic was a big win for the northern suburbs. “I have advocated the need for a GP super clinic to ensure families have access to a variety of health care services in one location,” he said.
“The super clinic will provide clinical placements for medical, nursing and allied health students and include the facilities necessary for a strong teaching, education and primary health research focus.”
The South Morang super clinic will open from 8am–8pm, Monday to Friday, and from 9am-12.30 pm on Saturdays.
The federal government has provided $3.7 million towards the clinic, while Plenty Valley Community Health has given $6.6 million and the University of Melbourne $225,000.
