Super clinic sites chosen without study of services

LABOR faces charges of pork-barrelling after conceding it decided to establish 28 taxpayer-funded GP super clinics without assessing existing services.

LABOR faces fresh charges of pork-barrelling after conceding it decided to establish 28 taxpayer-funded GP super clinics without assessing existing medical services in the chosen locations.

In an admission that lends weight to opposition claims that the $650 million scheme has been used to benefit marginal seats, federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon has revealed her department did not do any research on GP services before she chose the sites.

Her concession yesterday sparked opposition outrage and came as the Australian Medical Association's Queensland branch revealed Ms Roxon's proposal for two GP super clinics on the Gold and Sunshine coasts would serve areas that already had high levels of doctors per head of population.

Tony Abbott continued his attack on the health rollout, announcing plans to redirect $10m from the super-clinic program to flood relief for Queensland to avoid the need for a $1.8 billion flood levy.

The continuing controversy over super clinics came as senior Labor ministers backed Julia Gillard's flexibility over a new public hospital funding deal with the states ahead of Monday's meeting of the Council of Australian Governments in Canberra.

Several MPs and ministers told The Australian that the Prime Minister was right to leave open the possibility of significant change to a health deal brokered with the states last year by Kevin Rudd to break  through opposition by non-Labor states. They said Ms Gillard's declaration on Monday that her key aim was improvements to patient care indicated a flexibility that should assure voters she was focused on results, not processes.

Ms Roxon yesterday strongly defended Mr Rudd's deal and warned that any backflip on health reform at COAG would be dangerous and "put the entire federation at risk".

During the 2007 election campaign, Mr Rudd proposed to spend $280m building super clinics to provide bulk-billed GP services as well as a range of other services, including diagnostics, specialist suites and pharmacies.

As the projects were rolled out, the opposition complained that the clinics were being placed in marginal electorates for Labor's political convenience.

And GPs practising near some of the clinics complained they were losing business to super clinics and could not compete because of the taxpayer subsidies.

A second round of GP super clinics costing $370m were promised in last year's election.

In a response to a question on notice from opposition primary healthcare spokesman Andrew Southcott, Ms Roxon revealed: "The Department of Health and Ageing did not undertake an analysis of existing primary healthcare providers."

Dr Southcott, a doctor, seized on the response as proof the program was "more about the political health of Labor candidates in a tight election" than the real health needs of local communities.

"The location of the GP super clinics was no doubt selected in consultation with the national secretary of the ALP rather than the secretary of the Health Department," Dr Southcott said.

Queensland Australian Medical Association president Gino Pecoraro said the Sunshine Coast had one GP for every 865 people, the highest ratio in Queensland, while the Gold Coast had one GP for every 1011 people, the state's third-highest ratio.

"Tully Hospital has lost its roof in Cyclone Yasi and Ipswich and Toowoomba has damaged health services," Dr Pecoraro said.

"Here's $22m quarantined for GP infrastructure on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. Why not use it where it's needed?"

Ms Roxon defended the clinics yesterday, using a speech to declare the program a success.

"The program is already making a huge difference in many communities where it has been difficult to get doctors, and/or where there is high population growth," she told the Australian Health Care Reform Alliance in Canberra

"The opposition should be ashamed for wanting to rip apart this program, when it is delivering much-needed health infrastructure to communities around the country," Ms Roxon later told The Australian.

The minister said GP super clinics were being built in areas of need or where they could help relieve pressure on local hospitals.

The Sunshine Coast community faced a range of health pressures, including rapid population growth and a high proportion of children and elderly people.

The Gold Coast GP super clinic would help to meet the health needs of a rapidly growing population, high proportion of people with chronic disease, high proportion of Aborigines, children and the aged, and a hospital under pressure, she said.

Government sources said yesterday Ms Gillard wanted to deliver the key proposed outcomes of the Rudd reform package and was prepared to make concessions to secure agreement.