Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Friday, 18 November, I attended the East Ringwood Clinic to announce a $150,000 grant for new capital works under the federal government's Primary Care Infrastructure Grants program. This grant will help East Ringwood Clinic to expand the number of consulting rooms and to update a pretty tired old building. I met with Dr Dilip Hoole, the director of GP services at the clinic, who has been a driver in the quest for the upgrade. The practice itself dates from the 1950s and originally was converted from a house which appears to be much older than that. It has small rooms and a steep staircase, and the entrance is a walk down a narrow side alley as the front steps are not accessible to many people. The clinic currently has four consulting rooms on the ground floor, with a treatment room up the steep internal stairs, which are a major challenge for many of the older clients and injured patients who visit the clinic.

This $150,000 grant is very good value for money for the Commonwealth, especially when it is added to $120,000 of the clinic's money. The clinic's consulting rooms will be increased from four to six, enabling the clinic to employ an additional two full-time GPs. This measure is expected to enable the clinic to treat up to an additional 2,000 patients per year. The treatment room and pathology lab will be moved downstairs, making it easier for the elderly to access these services. The upstairs area will be renovated to house the administrative sections of the clinic and establish two new psychology rooms. Most importantly, the front entrance will be improved by removing steps and installing a ramp for easier access.

Another clinic in the Deakin electorate will receive a $300,000 grant to help extend their clinic—that is, Sheehans Medical Centre in Blackburn South. Sheehans Medical Centre has purchased a property next door and for two years has been planning to demolish the house to build a car park. The lack of a car park has restricted the ability to expand the clinic as council guidelines require four car parking spaces per practitioner. With the grant, the clinic will demolish the house and build new consulting rooms once the car park is finished. The permits are through, and the building works are ready to commence as soon as the demolition is done and funding is approved. The new car park will now cater to around 17 car spaces, allowing the clinic to add new rooms and extra practitioners. This is important because a local clinic recently closed in the area and the surrounding area has three large nursing homes that the clinic services. The demand for the clinic is such that at present they are full and have a large waiting list, which is common to many practices in my electorate.

I commend the Primary Care Infrastructure Grants program. It helps local clinics expand their operations and deliver expanded GP services where families need them, not only in my electorate of Deakin but right across Australia.