A Darling Downs’ GP group has welcomed new changes to primary health care.
The Federal Government has released details of the boundaries for the Primary Health Networks that will replace Medicare Locals from July.
The Darling Downs Southwest Medicare Local will be split into two, with areas west of Dalby to be part of a western Queensland Primary Health Network.
GP Connections’ managing director Ken Murphy said the new networks would give GPs more of a say in how services were delivered.
“When the Medicare Locals were established across Australia the divisions of general practice became defunct and the emphasis was on a much broader scale delivery of services and GPs were left extremely disenfranchised,” he said.
“A lot of problems were happening where patients and the coordination throughout the patients’ treatment program wasn’t as easily coordinated as what it would be if it was being organised by the GP themself.”