Local GPs lose $100,000 after-hours grant to corporate that ‘doesn’t do in-person consults’
The only GP practice in a small rural town is crying foul after losing out on $100,000 in grants to provide after-hours care to its community, with the cash going to a national telehealth corporate instead.
In February, Gippsland Primary Health Network (PHN) revealed that its grant for after-hours care in Mallacoota — a town some 530km from Melbourne — had been awarded to a company called My Emergency Doctor, which is apparently Australia’s first virtual emergency doctor service.
This was despite Gippsland PHN’s tender specifications stating that GPs would usually provide after-hours primary healthcare, and its “preference” was for “on-site” delivery.
My Emergency Doctor, which has been operating since 2016, claims to be able to make “rapid and accurate assessments” via phone and video consults, as well as provide patients with prescriptions, specialist referrals and X-ray requests.
