MAITLAND AFTER HOURS CLINIC CELEBRATES FIRST DECADE OF SERVICE
The GP Access After Hours at Maitland celebrates its tenth birthday this month. The innovative Maitland After Hours GP Service began in October 1999 as a pilot. Its success led to ongoing funding and then expansion across the region as GP Access After Hours in July 2003. Since the service began in October 1999 over 115 000 people have been seen by the service in Maitland.
Commenting on the service’s ten year milestone, Dr Mark Foster, CEO of GP Access said, “Back in 1999 the goal was to provide the residents of Maitland with a high quality, comprehensive after hours medical service that met the needs of patients, while minimizing the burden on our scarce GP workforce. Ten years later it is clear that this has been achieved. It is also clear Maitland broke the ground for the establishment of GP Access After Hours.”
The commitment of the local GPs has been critical for the success of the service. They took a punt in 1999 on a new way of providing after hours, and have continued to support the service over the last 10 years.”
Remarkably this service provides improved access to better care for the community, yet costs the Government 20% less per capita than it pays for after hours care in Sydney. Despite this it has been a constant battle to secure funding for the service over the 10 years. We hope that with the continued support of the community we will be celebrating our twentieth anniversary in ten years time,” Dr. Foster said.
In its tenth year of operation GP Access After Hours Maitland continues to be at the forefront of innovative health care by participating in two new exciting programs.
The first is a pilot program in conjunction with NSW Health where we are testing a new electronic health record called Healthelink. This program brings together summaries of an individual’s health information from different doctors, hospitals and health clinics and compiles them in one secure computer record.
The second program is trialing the use of a Nurse Practitioner who is working autonomously within a defined Scope of Practice approved by the NSW Director General of Health. This leading-edge initiative is important due to population growth in the area and the scarce GP workforce, and is a strategic exploration of the way primary health care patients can be managed.
