ANAO Conducting Audit of GP Super Clinics Program

 The ANAO will assess the effectiveness of the Department of Health and Ageing's (DoHA) administration of the GP Super Clinics Program, which was intended to support improved community access to integrated GP and primary health care services.

 Amid reports of Super Clinics in financial difficulties and other Super Clinics not proceeding, the AMA last October wrote to the ANAO urging an audit of the Program.

 The AMA was advised that an audit was already being conducted by DoHA, but this audit did not involve consultation with outside organisations or stakeholders.  The DoHA audit has not been made public.

 AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said today that the GP Super Clinics Program is a failed initiative in concept, design and implementation, and that a proper audit is overdue.

 “The AMA is not opposed to the establishment of GP Super Clinics in areas where there is a clear need for them,” Dr Hambleton said.

 “However, in terms of planning, the location of clinics appears to be largely a political process that is not necessarily linked to community need.

 “It was intended for 36 GP Super Clinics to be operating by the end of this financial year but, according to the DoHA website, there are now only 24 Clinics that are either partly or fully operational.

 “Clearly, the Government is falling well short of its own targets

 “Further, the Government had to financially bail out the Redcliffe GP Super Clinic in Brisbane and made a decision not to proceed with the planned Sorell Clinic in Tasmania.

 “The $25 million GP Super Clinic in Modbury, SA, opened with no doctors and, more recently, the provider that had been staffing the Clinic for the past 12 months withdrew from the contract, leaving no permanent doctors working at the Clinic.

 “These are just some examples of the problems with the Program.  The public deserves answers about what is happening with a significant investment of taxpayer money.  Hopefully the Auditor-General will get to the bottom of these problems.

 “If the Program is found to be failing, the AMA recommends that the GP Super Clinic funding be redirected to support new infrastructure and services for existing general practices,” Dr Hambleton said.