GP Super Clinic

I spoke in parliament yesterday about the ACT’s new GP Super Clinic.

GP Super Clinic, 13 February 2013

On Monday I had the pleasure of turning the first sod for a GP Super Clinic in my electorate of Fraser. Located at the University of Canberra campus in Bruce, the Super Clinic is one of 48 such clinics that have either begun operations or are under construction as part of the government’s healthcare agenda. This GP Super Clinic will form part of a hub-and-spoke system in the ACT, with future facilities in my electorate in Casey and in Calwell in South Canberra.

These investments in high-quality, comprehensive, convenient health services have significant benefits for the people of Fraser. As well as being convenient — grouping services such as occupational therapy and physiotherapy under the same roof as the local GP — Super Clinics allow for team work among health professionals, promising better quality health care.

Being located at the University of Canberra, the Super Clinic has a strong emphasis on educating medical, nursing and allied health students. It will soon be turning these university students into the next generation of health professionals, helping maintain and improve the standard of primary health care in the ACT and the broader region.

The GP Super Clinic could also help attract and retain health professionals. We know that medical students who train in the ACT are more likely to end up living and working locally, so having the magnet of a large, high-quality facility linked to student education is a great benefit for the future of health care.

Established by Ochre Health and jointly funded by Health Workforce Australia, the University of Canberra and the federal government, the Bruce GP Super Clinic is the product of a partnership, working together to provide better health care.

I thank all of those people involved in establishing the GP Super Clinic; their hard work is already bearing fruit: Minister for Health, Tanya Plibersek; the ACT Chief Minister, Katy Gallagher; University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stephen Parker; University of Canberra Chancellor, John Mackay; University of Canberra Deputy Chancellor, Tom Calma; and John Burns from Ochre Health. I would also like to acknowledge Thomas Baker, an intern in my office, who attended with us and who assisted me in preparing today’s remarks.

With the government’s commitment to build more than 60 new Super Clinics around Australia and to upgrade and extend around 425 existing health practices and facilities, the construction of the Bruce GP Super Clinic is part of the government’s national health vision. This is a vision for better health care, better health training and better health research. I was pleased to see that coming to fruition with the beginnings of the Bruce GP Super Clinic.