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

The Derwent Valley community has been well served for more than 50 years by two long-serving GPs, Dr Ralph Peters and Dr Micheil Sweet. Each has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia over the years for their unstinting service to medicine and the people in their community. However, Dr Peters and Dr Sweet have announced their respective retirements this month—which no-one begrudges them; both men have served their community admirably, they are in their 80s and 90s, and they have the best wishes of us all. But their retirement leaves the Derwent Valley with fewer options.

There is just one GP centre in New Norfolk, the Derwent Valley Medical Centre, which currently has more than 5,000 registered patients on its books and can't accept more. The centre is run off its feet, five days a week. It never stops. The Derwent Valley needs better medical services. And there is an answer to this. I've written to the health minister, Greg Hunt, about this, asking him to change the Monash funding model, because the Derwent Valley currently has the same funding category as Sandy Bay, in the middle of Hobart. The Derwent Valley services a rural and regional community. If he changes the funding model then the Derwent Valley Medical Centre can put on more people, offer more services and make sure that the people of the Derwent Valley get the health care and the health services that they need and they deserve. They can do better.

I wish those two gentlemen the very best for their retirement, and happy fishing!