I HAVE been following the coverage in the Ipswich Tribune relating to the situation at Walloon Medical Centre.
It is very concerning to me as both a local resident and a patient of the surgery that due to a ‘glass office’ decision there is a high chance that we may lose such a valued service, due to bureaucratic decision making creating an unworkable business model for this critical service.
Walloon Medical, according to your reporting caters to 15,000 patients with now just two doctors working, at a time when our health system is buckling. How can our decision makers not see that they are adding to the problem by putting these doctors under such pressure?
Where do these 15,000 patients go when these two doctors call quits due to long hours and literally no end in sight.
I call on our local Federal Member Shayne Neumann to actually bring those decision makers to this rural town and see what their decision actually means at a grass roots level. My understanding is that Walloon has literally been cut in half by this demarcation ‘line’ that allows, or doesn’t the contracting of overseas doctors.
We are constantly hearing how all levels of government are trying to boost the health system to cater to current needs. This decision flies in the face of that and is not factoring in that the region is growing and will continue to do so.
Maybe all levels of government, along with local residents should be approaching the Federal Health Minister. The Hon Mark Butler and Blair MP Shayne Neumann on this issue, before we have no medical service in Walloon.
— Name supplied, Rosewood.
