The Liverpool and Campbelltown after hours GP clinics are back and taking patients from tonight.
They are located in 23 Chamberlain Street, Campbelltown and Shop 12, Moorebank Village, Stockton Avenue, Moorebank.
After hours GP clinics will open on March 8 in Fairfield and Bankstown.
The after hours clinics were previously located within local hospitals but were closed over the Christmas period.
The “new’’ services have been made available by the Federal Government, through South Western Sydney PHN’s After Hours Practice Cooperative Grants, to give local residents greater access to GP care closer to home and to help ensure people are not attending local hospital emergency departments unnecessarily.
South Western Sydney PHN chief executive officer Keith McDonald said the grants ensured after hours medical services were now available within existing primary care practices, with GPs at the centre of patient care.
“The launch of these new services marks an exciting change in the way after hours care is delivered in South Western Sydney,” Mr McDonald said.
“We want all local residents to know their after hours care options and have access to a GP for urgent care in the after hours period, in a general practice setting.
“The best way to do this is to support local practices to expand their services and to support the community to know how they can find appropriate services open near them.”
Australian Medical Cooperative Limited will operate the after hours services in Campbelltown, Fairfield and Bankstown, while Liverpool Medical Services will operate the service in that LGA.
Australian Medical Cooperative Limited’s clinical lead, Fairfield GP Dr Joe Nicholas, said the clinics would run from existing practices with the group looking to expand services through a mobile medical van in the coming months.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“Our goal is to ensure local residents receive after hours GP care and keep the emergency department for emergencies,” Dr Nicholas said.[/social_quote]
“Our clinics are staffed by local GPs, are fully bulk billed and no appointment is necessary.”
Labor MPs Anne Stanley (Werriwa) and Dr Mike Freelander (Macarthur) cautiously welcomed the new after hours GP clinics.
“It is good news that the community will again have access to an afterhours GP clinic, however moving the clinic away from the hospital will not ease the increase of patients in the emergency department,” Dr Freelander said.
“I obviously welcome the announcement, but I am deeply concerned about the location of the new clinic in Moorebank,’’ Ms Stanley said.
“It will now be on the eastern side of the river and is no longer easily accessible by public transport.’’
For more information on the new after hours GP care in South West Sydney visit swsphn.com.au
