Mission Beach medical centre reopens as GP calls for rebate increase
A Far North town is celebrating the return of its medical practice after a three-year closure, but a long-term rural GP is questioning at what cost to the long-term viability of the industry the feel-good result was achieved.
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A growing Far North community is celebrating the return of its medical practice after a three-year closure, but a long-term rural GP is questioning at what cost to the long-term viability of the industry the feel-good result was achieved.
Mission Beach’s only practice, formerly known as TriStar Medical, closed in December 2021, however last week reopened as a satellite clinic to the Tully Medical Centre, understood to be sharing staff with its parent firm, with an additional two part-time Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine registrars starting in January.
The centre’s reopening took collaborative efforts between all three tiers of government, with Cassowary Coast Regional Council in September 2023 taking on the lease of the building in a “bold move” to offer business confidence to a potential practitioner.
The local government then worked with the state health service and the Northern Queensland Primary Health Network to attract the federal government’s “Think Markets” program – an initiative which addresses inadequate market provision for certain populations or in certain regions.
It’s understood the arrangement will reimburse ratepayers for the lease CCRC undertook.
“The opening of Mission Medical is a positive outcome for the community and follows a tender process to re-establish general practice services in the town,” NQPHN interim chief executive Ben Tooth said.
Tully Medical Centre’s practice owner and supervisor Dr Kim Favier said she hoped “to support people’s individual health and the broader wellbeing of families and community members who have faced limited healthcare options in recent years.”
“We look forward to building lasting relationships with the residents of Mission Beach and are committed to providing compassionate, accessible, and comprehensive care to all,” she said.
Gordonvale Family Medical GP Dr Lisa Fraser said while it was a positive outcome for Mission Beach residents, the industry was still operating in a “terrible environment”, ultimately calling for an increase to the Medicare patient rebate, arguing her patients could not afford increases to fees, which would compound the burden on the public system.
Dr Fraser said “Band-Aid” solutions wouldn’t keep the doors open at all struggling rural clinics, questioning whether the Mission Beach success would overshadow the factors behind the decline of rural GPs.
“There’s no fat in our system, we provide care at 1/10th to even 1/100th the cost of a hospital, and everyone wants more hospitals,” Dr Fraser said.
“We can’t get the message out there enough that if you fund general practice and you throw some reasonable money at people to come rurally, then they will come.”
Dr Fraser said forcing graduate doctors to mandatory rural practice was unnecessary as it was already included in their training programs.
“We are people and human beings, and we’re not going to be shipped around like cattle, we’re not machines, just to be moved wherever.”
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Originally published as Mission Beach medical centre reopens as GP calls for rebate increase
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