Hunter Medicare Local will aim to prove to an independent review of after hours health care, that the organisation provides a vital after hours GP service to the community.
The Federal Health Minister Peter Dutton has commissioned Professor Claire Jackson to conduct the review as part of the Government’s commitment to improve frontline health services.
The review will examine the role of GPs and General Practice in delivering after hours services.
Hunter Medicare Local CEO John Baillie says the five after hours clinics in the Hunter region are cost effective and must remain intact.
“What we’ll be saying to Professor Jackson is that the service has been operating here in the Hunter for in excess of 10 years,” he said.
“It’s a cooperative collaborative arrangement with GPs that we find that 98 percent of patients who go through the service don’t need to be seen by a GP.”