‘We want to get on the front foot’: PHN’s rescue plan to help GP practices stay open
The Hunter New England and Central Coast Primary Health Network says practice viability in the region is 'marginal at best'.
Dozens of GP practices have signed up to a Primary Health Network’s new viability assessment platform amid a worrying spate of closures and mergers.
In the past two years, 40-50 practices in the Hunter New England and Central Coast Primary Health Network (PHN) catchment area have closed or merged, including four Tristar practices that were sold or shut down in 2022.
Viability in the region is “marginal at best”, says the PHN’s executive manager of primary care improvement, John Bailie.
“We also had quite a few solos close: they are often the really challenging ones because they do not have a succession plan, and they have been providing a service to communities for decades,” Mr Bailie says.
