Island doctor service cut
A FAMILY medical practice on Magnetic Island that serves 110 patients a day will be reduced to just one doctor, with bureaucratic geography forcing the business to undergo a restructure.
Latitude 19 Health in Nelly Bay will go from having 2.5 to 3 full time doctors to just one in a bid to keep the clinic financially viable and maintain services to the island, though wait times are expected to balloon.
To blame, according to practice principal Dr Claus Bader, is a Federal Government system that determines how it disperses health sector incentives across the country – the Modified Monash Model – based solely on geographical data.
Magnetic Island was originally classed MM7 or “very remote”, just like Palm Island, but the Health Department said this classification was “erroneously” made in 2015.
“For the purpose of the island rule, the measurement of an island from the mainland of Australia remains the shortest distance point to point between the shores,” a spokesman said.
This is 5km for Magnetic Island – if calculated from the tip of an inaccessible part of Pallarenda to the inaccessible shore past Cockle Bay Reef.
The transition to the new classification began on January 1. Dr Bader said going from an MM7 to an MM5 had effec
TOWNSVILLE will be spared the brunt of a tropical low that is expected to form into a cyclone tonight as the Cowboys versus Broncos game finishes.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Rosa Hoff said Tropical Cyclone Gretel was expected to form about 10pm over the Coral Sea.
“At the moment the tropical low is tracking southeast and is not having a direct impact on the Queensland coast,” she said. tively halved financial incentives for doctors to work long term on the island, and was asking the Federal Government to classify the island based on its health needs, not its location.
He said the change had compounded existing difficulties, including isolation, limited earning potential due to population and demographics, inability to specialise and difficulties separating work and personal life on the island.
“The difficulties attracting doctors appears to be across the board in the region as a lot practices are struggling to recruit and retain long term GPS, (and) unfortunately this is even more the case for us,” Dr Bader said.
But according to a Health Department spokesman, Magnetic Island continues to have access to programs that encourage medical practitioners to practise in regional, rural and remote communities including higher rural bulk billing incentives and an
Ms Hoff said the low and eventual cyclone was expected to continue moving away from the coast but warned there would probably be strong winds for North Queensland.
A gale warning has been issued for Townsville, with south to southeasterly winds expected to peak at 35 knots. Winds west of Cape Bowling Green are expected to decrease to 15 to 20 knots in the late afternoon. incentives program with payments up to $23,000.
Dr Bader said the practice was working towards a solution as the restructure happens over the next five to six weeks in a bid to keep the clinic open, including a recruitment drive for doctors to maintain its long term viability.
The one doctor model will be filled by a GP already with the practice alongside a second existing doctor continuing in a part time role, one day a week until August.
Further to the south, the developing low is likely to produce damaging wind gusts about exposed parts of the central coast.
“Areas such as Townsville, which is a bit more parallel to those winds, haven’t seen these effects and have seen less rainfall as a result,” Ms Hoff said.
A flood watch has been issued from Ingham to far north Queensland. Sunny conditions are expected for Townsville at the weekend.