Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to share some welcome news from my constituents in the Central Highlands municipality that sits within my electorate. Just before the election, a Central Highland's general practice announced its closure, affecting hundreds of mainly elderly residents in the small town of Ouse, which is 88 kilometres north-west of Hobart. A replacement GP service folded within a few weeks, and the town has been without a GP for a couple of months. Residents have had to travel long distances at considerable expense to access basic medical services and renew their prescriptions.

There have been public meetings and a number of stakeholder meetings between myself and many others, including Primary Health Tasmania, HR Plus and local mayor Loueen Triffitt. The Tasmanian government has, to its credit, played a significant role in offering accommodation and support services, such as IT, and the resources of the Tasmanian health service. Every level of government, local, state and federal, along with community members, medical practitioners and advocates, have been working tirelessly towards an ongoing solution. Today I'm pleased to be able to tell the House that medical services are set to resume for Ouse patients from October 10. For the remainder of this year, medical services will be available from Bothwell, 47 kilometres from Ouse, but it is hoped that some services will resume in Ouse early next year.

The new arrangements follow an agreement being reached between the Tasmanian health service and Dr Mary Lumsden, who runs both Bothwell Doctors and Brighton Regional Doctors. Dr Lumsden has agreed to engage more GPs at her Bothwell clinic, meaning she can add Ouse patients and other Central Highlands patients to the books.

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Dr Lumsden, who I have met a number of times over the years and for who I have the highest regard, for her willingness to expand her service and take the risk and for her ongoing dedication to the health and wellbeing of southern Tasmanians. I would also like to thank Mayor Triffitt, who has been a tireless campaigner for the restoration of medical services to her community.

I don't pretend that this is a perfect fix, nor that it will be what the Ouse community wants for the long term, but it does at least restore some level of medical service, giving us breathing room to investigate what might be a better long-term solution. The fact is that the model of rural and regional health that has been in place for decades across Australia is failing. GP recruitment is down and retention is woeful. People living in the regions are not getting the services they expect and have a right to because the system is based on commercial viability for health providers and not health care and health outcomes. Our regions need a different model. I am engaged in regular discussions with leading stakeholders about what that change might look like and how it might be delivered.

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