What is there of which to be critical, one might ask? Well let's examine what the role and function is of any Medicare Local as defined by the Federal Government and reported by Grant McArthur in last weekend's Herald-Sun:
"Medicare Locals are intended to be primary care networks in charge of planning and delivering health services in their area, with GPs, allied health, nurses and pharmacists possibly sitting on their boards.
"The Federal Government is yet to outline whether it will manage day-to-day services and doctor rosters, or if it will take a more administrative or advisory role."
And this was the reported comment of the Victorian Government's Health Minister in the same article:"We think it is unfortunate that the Commonwealth has not been very precise about the role of Medicare Locals," state Health Minister David Davis said. "They have said they want to do more after-hours GP work, but exactly how they implement that has not been laid out.
Even blind Freddy can see that this does require community and health provider consultations at best and, at least, to be involved in informing the community as to what the "semi-autonomous" Southern Highlands/Wollondilly Medicare Local will look like, and what services, if any, it will provide.
Again, a search of the local press, the Division's own website, and that of the Macarthur Division reveals nothing forthcoming from the CEO and Board of the Southern Highlands Division of General Practice. If information has been merely trickled from top down to the local GPs who are members of the Division then that process hardly constitutes being a "primary care network(s) in charge of planning and delivering health services in their area".
This then begs the question: "When will Dr Ruscoe and the Board of the Southern Highlands Division of General Practice become open and transparent about their plans for the delivery of health services in the Southern Highlands and the Wollondilly communities?"
I'm told that at one meeting, late last year, of Mental Health Professionals in the Southern Highlands a suggestion was made that Dr Ruscoe be invited, to a subsequent meeting, to discuss the evolution of the Medicare Locals in the Southern Highlands. The response from the GPs present at the meeting was that there are other people of more interest than Dr Ruscoe who could be invited to speak at subsequent meetings. One could consider from this comment that even members of the Division believe that Dr Ruscoe is more of a legend in his own mind than in the minds of others.
Certainly the absence, already, of any public comment about the local version of the proposed Medicare Local could mean that Dr Ruscoe may have been a speechless invited speaker! So, who is this man who seems to wield such power and influence? Perhaps Socrates's next posting should bring some clarity to this question.
