Katherine’s doctor crisis almost over with two new GP clinics to open within the month

A NT town will go from having zero to two permanent GP clinics in just over a month, it has been confirmed, with the first due to open in a few weeks’ time

KATHERINE will go from having zero to two permanent GP clinics in a little over a month, it has been confirmed, with the first service due to open in about two weeks.

The NT’s fourth largest town, with a population of about 10,000, has not had a permanent GP clinic for all residents since October, when Gorge Health – the town’s only GP service for non-Indigenous as well as Indigenous people – closed its doors.

Two different groups of locals announced plans to open new clinics in January, and the NT Primary Health Network (NT PHN) has released more details about those today.

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According to the update, Bauhinia Health, a mixed-billing service that will operate out of the former Gorge Health site on First Street, will start taking bookings from Monday, March 22 before opening in “late March”.

It will offer GP care, telehealth, screenings, women’s health, pathology, optometry, audiology and cardiac care as well as other specialist services on a rotating basis.

Katherine Family Medical Practice, which will be located on Katherine Terrace, will open several weeks later on Monday, April 12.

Bookings will open on March 29.

The clinic will offer GP care, GP management plans, nurse practitioner services, telehealth, women’s health, pre-employment and insurance medicals and referrals for pathology and imaging.

Both clinics will operate five days a week.

NT PHN chief executive Gill Yearsley said the network was pleased a solution to Katherine’s GP crisis had been found for the community.

“It’s a testament to the local investors who have progressed arrangements in a very short time frame, to meet the local needs,” she said.

An interim GP service set up as a stopgap by the NT PHN, which has been operating out of the Rocky Ridge Aged Care facility since mid November, will wind up at close of business on Tuesday, March 23.

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Ms Yearsley said the service had only been needed to fill a temporary gap in Katherine’s primary healthcare sector.

“The availability of GPs has always driven the operation of the clinic,” she said.

“NT PHN is very grateful to the five local GPs in Katherine who dedicated some of their time to working in the clinic and to the locum GPs who travelled to Katherine to offer additional support.”

She said the clinic had recorded “strong” bookings throughout its time in operation.

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