Federal cuts to PHNs’ after-hours cash in the spotlight after remote service loses funding
Independent MP Dr Helen Haines (DMSc) says Walwa residents now face a 'dangerous drive' to access care.
Patients of a remote service will be forced to drive 110km on dangerous roads for treatment, an MP warns, after the local primary health network withdrew its funding amid wider after-hours budget cuts.
The Walwa Bush Nursing Centre (WBNC), in the remote Victorian town of Walwa, was told by the Murray Primary Health Network (PHN) in May that funding for its after-hours service would end on 1 July.
WBNC director Sandi Grieve told AusDoc it would be “catastrophic” for locals, whose best bet would be to drive 90 minutes to a Medicare urgent care clinic in Wodonga or call triple zero.
She said the WBNC had received an initial $75,000 a year for after-hours care four years ago, which had increased to $90,000 a year over time.
