By John Van Klaveren
MEDICARE Locals in Geelong, Ballarat and Warrnambool plan a merger to tender for Federal Government’s new Primary Health Network.
Geelong Medicare Local chief Jason Trethowan said the merger would result in corporate job losses as part of a Government push for greater efficiency.
“The merger won’t accommodate all corporate staff under the consolidation because some parts of the current organisations will be centralised,” Mr Trethowan said.
“But there will be more job creation opportunities down the track for program support staff.
“This is a disruption to our work in the Medicare Local but we believe we’ll be able to promote more opportunities to work across the whole region as a result.”
The previous Labor government established Medicare Locals, mostly from GP associations, to fill gaps in heatlh care services. The coalition’s Primary Health Network will serve a similar purpose but across a wider area, covering the Barwon, Grampians and Great South Coast regions from July.
The change follows a government trend toward larger regional organisations for tourism and waste collection sectors.
Mr Trethowan said the heads of the three Medicare Locals were in discussions with each other and local stakeholders in preparation for the move.
“The Federal Government will release a tender for its Primary Health Network around November and we should have greater clarity of what it entails then. However, we’re suggesting the Government brings the process forward to give us more time to effect the transition from the Medicare Locals and give staff greater confidence in their job futures.”
Mr Trethowan said multiple locations for the organisation were possible, given the size of the new network.
“State Government should invest in the new networks to ensure an equitable distribution of health care resources into local communities,” he said.
“It would also result in better coordination between state and federal health policies. Health does bring a lot of duplication.”
Mr Trethowan said successful local health initiatives such as a HealthPathways website would remain under the new arrangements.
“We won’t lose sight of the local work we’re doing but it will enable us to place more emphasis on rural health issues and make wider connections with local hospitals and health professionals.”
