This time last week, the Huon News reported that the Cygnet Family Practice After Hours and Urgent Care Clinic would close at the end of June – a victim of the most recent budget’s ‘operational efficiencies’.
There was vocal opposition to this decision, both from locals and politicians, including Clare Glade-Wright, Julie Collins and Peter George.
However, it now appears that ‘operational efficiencies’ are, on some occasions, reversible.
It was decided on Friday night, May 29, that the state government would fund a year of ‘transitional funding’ for Cygnet Family Practice After Hours and Urgent Care.
Federal Minister for Health, Julie Collins, described the decision as ‘great news’ in a post on social media.
State MP for Health, Bridget Archer, responded that the 12 months of funding would allow the service’s transition to federal support, adding;
“You can’t pretend that Urgent Care Centres are where your responsibility ends – we now need the Federal Labor Government to step up and do their bit.”
Independent MP Peter George, a patient of the clinic, applauded the funding extension, saying that the next step was to ‘get the Commonwealth government to step up – as it should – to fund the service beyond the next 12 months’.
Cygnet Family Practice’s urgent and after-hours service runs three days a week – Thursday, Friday and Saturday – offering more than 100 appointments weekly.
Co-owner and nurse practitioner Kerrie Duggan said that while primary health care falls under federal responsibility and hospitals under the state, the two overlap significantly.
She noted the service costs $250,000 a year to run but saves the state government more than $1 million annually by reducing ambulance call-outs and emergency department admissions for patients who can be better treated locally.
