Five more after-hours medical services in WA
Five GP clinics and service providers have been awarded more than $780,000 in state government funding to provide after-hours services, according to a report in the West Australian.
West Asutralian (WA) Health Minister, Kim Hames, announced in May, the Government would spend $8.4 million over the next three years to encourage GPs to extend their opening times to ease pressure on hospital emergency departments.
Mr Hames said five service providers had successfully applied for the first round of the grants, including the GP After-Hours clinic at Bentley, the Fremantle GP Network, Sonseeker Doctors in Burswood, the Scarborough Beach Medical Practice and the Australian Locum Medical Service WA.
The program offers GPs up to $100,000 a year to extend their services to provide after-hours GP access from 8pm to midnight, and up to $200,000 a year to extend services from midnight to dawn.
Mr Hames said he expected the number of practices participating in the program to increase in the next round, which would be available from January 2010.
