Super Clinic funding ‘wasted’ says MP

Every practice in the country could have had a $91,000 infrastructure grant if the funding for GP Super Clinics had been spent on existing practices instead, according to an Opposition MP.

Liberal MP Dr Andrew Southcott made the claim (see link) in Parliament yesterday as he lashed out at the $650 million GP Super Clinic program, calling it “another area of government waste”.

He said the GP Super Clinic funding would have been better spent on improvements to existing general practices.

“This approach would have provided much better value for the taxpayer and much better value for money and would have seen more results than the paltry 10 clinics around Australia that we have now,” he said.

“Instead, the government has provided grants of up to $15 million each to a select 64 clinics in a select 64 locations, through a process with no accountability, to compete against the age-old family practices who got where they are because of a lot of hard work.”

He added that with only 10 clinics open since the government announced its plans three years ago, it could take another 23 years before all of the 64 clinics are fully operational.

Data obtained by Dr Southcott shows that almost 40% of the 64 Super Clinics are being built in districts not classed as areas of workforce shortages.

However, the government insists workforce shortage is not the only criteria that determines their locations. And Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the Super Clinics are being built in areas of need or where the clinics can help to relieve the pressure from local hospitals.

The data does show that nearly half of the GP infrastructure grants have been allocated to regional areas