GIDGEGANNUP and surrounding residents will now have medical services closer to home after a new GP clinic opened in the village yesterday.
Gidgegannup Medical Centre GP Dr Adenola Adeleye said previously the nearest medical centre was in Mundaring, a 24km round-trip.
“I was shocked when I found out there was a community of 8000 people without access to public transport or a GP service,” he said.
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READ NOW“When people don’t have easy access to a GP they might delay seeing a doctor with what is essentially a common, easily managed health condition.
“Without care the patient’s condition could deteriorate and potentially they can end up in the emergency department.
“It is much better for residents to have access to good quality primary health care close to home under the care of a GP.”
A new Department of Health report into the state’s GP workforce highlights a shortfall of 534 general practitioners in 2015 which is expected to increase to 774 by 2021.
Suburbs in Perth’s north east reported the worst GP ratio of 67.43 per 100,000 people compared to WA’s GP ratio of 81.5 per 100,000. The national average is 96.8, making WA the worst performing State. In the inner city the GP ratio is 172.2 per 100,000.
The report showed that people who had access to quality primary care sector have better health outcomes, better equity, lower mortality rates, and lower overall costs of healthcare.
While WA has one of the lowest rates of bulk-billing in Australia, Dr Adeleye said the Gidgegannup Medical Centre would be a bulk-billing clinic.
“On our opening day yesterday we had a very good turnout,” he said.
“Gidgegannup has a lot of families in the area so everybody was quite excited for the practice to open.
“We have two doctors at the centre with a third doctor coming on board later this year.”
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