Perhaps now, the Board and CEO of the Southern Highlands Division of General Practice will undertake the basic principle of the Medicare Locals funding parameters and commence to speak with the public and private healthcare providers in the area, and the NGOs, to develop a collaborative model of health care in the Southern Highlands. Then, and only then, will they comply with the basic requirements for funding. The clock is ticking... and by July 1st 2012, the SH Division of General Practice will cease to exist.
Strangely enough, someone seems to have objected to the re-publication of the information of this publicly available information from the Medical Observer in which their author reports the content of a media release of the successful tenderers for the first of the Medicare Locals.
One can only speculate about who that might be. Socrates has yet to be given the answer to that question, and to the other as to how a publicly issued media release and publication can allegedly infringe copyright......!?
Roxon unveils first Medicare Locals
6th Jun 2011 - Medical Observer
Byron Kaye all articles by this author
THE first 15 Medicare Locals have been unveiled by Health Minister Nicola Roxon, however Victoria has been left off the list as the Baillieu Government holds out on wider health reform.
The first tranche of MLs are split between the states, with four successful tenders named in NSW and five in Queensland.
Victoria’s absence has led the AGPN to call on the Victorian divisions to put pressure the Baillieu Government to sign up to the reform as soon as possible.
Four MLs have been earmarked by the Federal Government for Victoria, however the Baillieu Government requested extra time to consider the ML boundaries in its state. It is expected the four will be officially announced next week.
The situation has led AGPN CEO David Butt to issue an email to all divisions – which MO has obtained – to explain the situation, which he describes as “disruptive and farcical”.
“While this means that these four will definitely go ahead as planned, it now leaves a level of uncertainty about potential boundary changes for other Victorian MLs,” Mr Butt wrote.
“By the end of last week, the Federal Government’s plan was to proceed with two additional MLs in Victoria. Unfortunately, we now no longer have that certainty.
“If any of you from Victoria can bring any pressure to bear on the Victorian Government to stop the delays and allow the primary healthcare reforms to get going, then please do so.”
Announcing the MLs, Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the first round of successful applicants were chosen for their established records in improving primary healthcare for their local community and strong plans to improve local primary care services into the future.
The successful applicants are as follows:
The first tranche of MLs are split between the states, with four successful tenders named in NSW and five in Queensland.
Victoria’s absence has led the AGPN to call on the Victorian divisions to put pressure the Baillieu Government to sign up to the reform as soon as possible.
Four MLs have been earmarked by the Federal Government for Victoria, however the Baillieu Government requested extra time to consider the ML boundaries in its state. It is expected the four will be officially announced next week.
The situation has led AGPN CEO David Butt to issue an email to all divisions – which MO has obtained – to explain the situation, which he describes as “disruptive and farcical”.
“While this means that these four will definitely go ahead as planned, it now leaves a level of uncertainty about potential boundary changes for other Victorian MLs,” Mr Butt wrote.
“By the end of last week, the Federal Government’s plan was to proceed with two additional MLs in Victoria. Unfortunately, we now no longer have that certainty.
“If any of you from Victoria can bring any pressure to bear on the Victorian Government to stop the delays and allow the primary healthcare reforms to get going, then please do so.”
Announcing the MLs, Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the first round of successful applicants were chosen for their established records in improving primary healthcare for their local community and strong plans to improve local primary care services into the future.
The successful applicants are as follows:
