Changes to medical services at Streaky Bay and Elliston have been introduced as a longer-term solution is being prepared.
The new model of healthcare introduced this week will see the towns share a locum doctor to provide on-call emergency cover and inpatient services.
The Streaky Bay and Districts Medical Clinic board has decided to no longer provide inpatient or on-call emergency services to Streaky Bay Hospital and Elmhaven Aged Care.
In addition to on-call emergency cover and inpatient services for Streaky Bay and Elliston hospitals, the locum doctor will provide GP services from Streaky Bay and Districts Medical Clinic and Mid Eyre Medical (Elliston) on set days each week.
On the days the locum doctor is based in Elliston – three days per week – on-call services for Streaky Bay will be provided remotely, and vice versa.
As a result, hospital admissions in the towns will be at the discretion of the admitting doctor and patients may be transferred to other hospitals.
Aged care services will continue to be provided at Streaky Bay and Elliston.
A joint statement from Eyre and Far North Local Health Network (EFNLHN) chief executive officer Julie Marron and Streaky Bay and Districts Medical Clinic board chairperson Jonas Woolford said this had been a “difficult decision for the Streaky Bay and Districts Medical Clinic Board”.
“The board has worked closely with EFNLHN to develop a new service model to ensure continuity of medical services to the community for this interim period,” they said.
Speaking to the Eyre Peninsula Advocate, Mr Woolford said this was a “necessary way forward”.
“It is well known the difficulties of finding GPs for rural and remote communities. The alternative is locums, which is not a sustainable long-term model for community clinics like ours and government clinics,” he said.
“Streaky Bay has had locum GPs for 14 months – Dr Victoria Bradley has been consulting sporadically, but the main supply of a GP to the hospital and aged care was because of locums.
“Elliston is in a similar situation where the Eyre and Far North Local Health Network runs the clinic and supplies the locum GP to the hospital, out of the Mid Eyre model.”
Mr Woolford said this arrangement would be similar to the Mid Eyre Medical model, which covers a number of Eyre Peninsula towns.
He said consults would occur as normal.
As the new arrangement starts, the two organisations have welcomed the news Dr Mark Brown intends to establish a new GP practice providing services to Streaky Bay and Elliston from October.
Dr Brown is from Queensland, but has been doing locum stints in Streaky Bay over a number of years, as well as in other EP towns such as Elliston and Cleve.
Mr Woolford said Dr Brown – who has a wife and four children – liked the town and coastal lifestyle, and was currently doing due diligence to establish the service.
“It does appear that, should it happen, the business structure is going back to how it should be on Eyre Peninsula,” Mr Woolford said.
“Dr Brown has been in Streaky Bay doing locum stints since we took on the clinic nearly six years ago, so he is well versed in what is required here.
“What we have now is a transition trial period and the Eyre and Far North Local Health Network have been supportive in the transition. At the end of the day we all want the same thing.”
Mr Woolford said Dr Brown’s private business would cover on-call and consults, while he was planning on training young doctors.
During the transition period, and until Dr Brown establishes his service, he will work as a locum for the network one week per fortnight.
EFNLHN has secured regular locums to provide services on the alternate weeks.
Weekday consults will continue to be available at the Streaky Bay clinic as usual.
Mid Eyre Medical at Elliston will be open three days a week, Tuesday to Thursday.
“We understand the concern that can come with changes to services but we would like to reassure both communities that this model already successfully operates in a number of Eyre and Far North communities,” the joint statement said.
