Barcy airs region's first medical revamp proposal
AFTER months of consultations, discussions and meetings throughout the Central West, the Barcaldine Shire Council is the first off-the-rank with a public proposal for a new model of health care in the region.
The model will be formally presented at the Remote Area Planning and Development board meeting next Tuesday in Winton, following weeks circulating the email inboxes of Western Queensland councillors.
All shires have the opportunity to present their ideas for a new Central Western health care and workforce plan, however after leading health care professionals visited the region earlier in the year and encouraged locals to bring forth ideas to fix the understaffed regional health care system, it was the Barcaldine Shire Council who were the first to respond.
"In a perfect world, every town would have their own doctor, but it is not [a perfect world]," Barcaldine Shire Mayor Rob Chandler said.
"This is the way to go to retain staff and to recruit staff."
Community leaders and health professionals warned the Central West in May "that if a solution to the increasing staff shortages wasn’t found quickly then the situation would worsen".
After discussions with visiting Doctor Mark O’Brien, the Barcaldine Shire Council took on his advice and began work on the model based on the ‘hub and spoke’ principle.
Under the model, Barcaldine would have the necessary means, staff and facilities to service outlying small regions.
However Mr Chandler emphasised that while he had the support of a number of industry professionals, it was only early days with plenty of discussion and "vigorous debate" yet to come.
"If people can come with better suggestions then I would encourage it.
"This model is food for thought. The present situation is not working and this is our suggested solution.
"People need to look at it, pull it apart and come up something better if they can."
Coined the ‘GP model’, it proposes no towns in the Central West Health Service District lose their facilities, but instead Jericho, Aramac and Alpha would sacrifice their doctor in order for Barcaldine to have between four and five medicos based at their hospital.
"These towns share one doctor, but they can’t retain a GP in this position.
"Doctors don’t want to deal with the isolation, they don’t want to work 24-hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week.
"Barcaldine would supply relief to these towns and we would have the doctors in order to support that.
"With the GP model in Barcy, it would take people in Jericho 50 minutes to get to a doctor or a hospital, and Aramac residents 40 minutes.
"The paramedics say that this is on par with living in the city."
With its central location, modern hospital and educational facilities, Mr Chandler believes that Barcaldine could be one of the region’s medical hubs, with services that would attract and retain medical staff.
"We are fortunate that Barcaldine has the infrastructure and location to support the model.
"Increasingly we are being told that in order to recruit and retain doctors, we have to provide the lifestyle infrastructure. I think we can do that in Barcy."
However, when talk of removing staff and services is bantered about the West, more than just eyebrows are raised.
While Blackall won’t be directly affected by the model, Shire Mayor Les Wheelhouse is cautious of any infrastructure change that could lead to more service reductions.
"We haven’t fared too well with regionalisation in the past," Mr Wheelhouse said.
"Blackall residents have lost a lot of their services because of regionalisation, centralisation and rationalisation.
"So when a proposal such as this comes along there is an strong inclination to be very cautious."
Reiterating Mr Chandler’s wishes for the Barcaldine model to be debated, Mr Wheelhouse believes any final decision need be most influenced by the will of any towns that stand to be most affected.
"As the model stands, it won’t have much of an effect on Blackall, but the Blackall Council believes the public needs to have input into this.
"Some communities will be affected more than others.
"There is a role there for these small towns to decide the type and nature of their services."
While the model has been put forth by the Barcaldine Shire Council, a commitment has been forged between the proposal’s stakeholders, including RAPAD, district mayors and councils, and communities, to work together to ensure the maintenance of appropriate services in the future.
"It’s up to the experts now, I’m not a medical person – I’m a shearer by trade," Mr Chandler concluded.
"This is where Queensland Health needs to look at it now.
"All options need to be discussed to ensure the best possible outcome is determined."
The model will be formally presented at the Remote Area Planning and Development board meeting next Tuesday in Winton, following weeks circulating the email inboxes of Western Queensland councillors.
All shires have the opportunity to present their ideas for a new Central Western health care and workforce plan, however after leading health care professionals visited the region earlier in the year and encouraged locals to bring forth ideas to fix the understaffed regional health care system, it was the Barcaldine Shire Council who were the first to respond.
"In a perfect world, every town would have their own doctor, but it is not [a perfect world]," Barcaldine Shire Mayor Rob Chandler said.
"This is the way to go to retain staff and to recruit staff."
Community leaders and health professionals warned the Central West in May "that if a solution to the increasing staff shortages wasn’t found quickly then the situation would worsen".
After discussions with visiting Doctor Mark O’Brien, the Barcaldine Shire Council took on his advice and began work on the model based on the ‘hub and spoke’ principle.
Under the model, Barcaldine would have the necessary means, staff and facilities to service outlying small regions.
However Mr Chandler emphasised that while he had the support of a number of industry professionals, it was only early days with plenty of discussion and "vigorous debate" yet to come.
"If people can come with better suggestions then I would encourage it.
"This model is food for thought. The present situation is not working and this is our suggested solution.
"People need to look at it, pull it apart and come up something better if they can."
Coined the ‘GP model’, it proposes no towns in the Central West Health Service District lose their facilities, but instead Jericho, Aramac and Alpha would sacrifice their doctor in order for Barcaldine to have between four and five medicos based at their hospital.
"These towns share one doctor, but they can’t retain a GP in this position.
"Doctors don’t want to deal with the isolation, they don’t want to work 24-hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week.
"Barcaldine would supply relief to these towns and we would have the doctors in order to support that.
"With the GP model in Barcy, it would take people in Jericho 50 minutes to get to a doctor or a hospital, and Aramac residents 40 minutes.
"The paramedics say that this is on par with living in the city."
With its central location, modern hospital and educational facilities, Mr Chandler believes that Barcaldine could be one of the region’s medical hubs, with services that would attract and retain medical staff.
"We are fortunate that Barcaldine has the infrastructure and location to support the model.
"Increasingly we are being told that in order to recruit and retain doctors, we have to provide the lifestyle infrastructure. I think we can do that in Barcy."
However, when talk of removing staff and services is bantered about the West, more than just eyebrows are raised.
While Blackall won’t be directly affected by the model, Shire Mayor Les Wheelhouse is cautious of any infrastructure change that could lead to more service reductions.
"We haven’t fared too well with regionalisation in the past," Mr Wheelhouse said.
"Blackall residents have lost a lot of their services because of regionalisation, centralisation and rationalisation.
"So when a proposal such as this comes along there is an strong inclination to be very cautious."
Reiterating Mr Chandler’s wishes for the Barcaldine model to be debated, Mr Wheelhouse believes any final decision need be most influenced by the will of any towns that stand to be most affected.
"As the model stands, it won’t have much of an effect on Blackall, but the Blackall Council believes the public needs to have input into this.
"Some communities will be affected more than others.
"There is a role there for these small towns to decide the type and nature of their services."
While the model has been put forth by the Barcaldine Shire Council, a commitment has been forged between the proposal’s stakeholders, including RAPAD, district mayors and councils, and communities, to work together to ensure the maintenance of appropriate services in the future.
"It’s up to the experts now, I’m not a medical person – I’m a shearer by trade," Mr Chandler concluded.
"This is where Queensland Health needs to look at it now.
"All options need to be discussed to ensure the best possible outcome is determined."
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