By Dongyun Kwon
Yarra Ranges councillors passed the motion to advocate for an urgent care clinic (UCC) to be located in Healesville.
UCCs offer urgent services 24/7 or extended hours and are open to everyone with no Medicare card, appointments or GP referral needed.
The UCC services include treatment for mild infections, burns, suspected fractures, and sprains.
The Labor Government announced an election promise to open 50 UCCs across Australia of which one in the federal electorate of Casey.
Lilydale has been named on the government’s potential target area list.
Liberal candidate Aaron Violi also shared his plan of how he will improve the health system in Casey, promising a UCC in Healesville if he succeeds in securing the seat which he is currently holding.
Following the recently announced bipartisan support for having a UCC in Casey, Yarra Ranges councillors had a long discussion to figure out what town should be equipped with a UCC.
On 8 April, two presenters, who were against and for the UCC’s location to be in Healesville respectively, attended the council meeting to voice up their reasons to the councillors.
Sue Avery, who was against the recommendation to locate the clinic in Healesville, went first.
She said Yarra Ranges Council contained significant inaccuracies and misrepresentation in the council meeting agenda report which could impact a major decision.
“First and foremost, a UCC does not replace a GP or a hospital emergency department. UCCs provide treatment for non-life threatening … They do not manage life-threatening emergencies … Chronic Illness or preventative care is also not covered by the UCC,” Ms Avery said.
“That is the domain of your GP. The current report implies otherwise, which is misleading.”
Ms Avery claimed many vulnerable residents in Healesville already have access to affordable, timely GP care which covers most conditions.
“I called four clinics in Healesville (on Tuesday 8 April). One still had their after-hours message on at 11.30am or 10.30am, so I didn’t get on to them, but I did get on to three of them,” she said.
“All of them could provide me with an appointment to see a GP today, and I can tell you now that doesn’t happen too often in Lilydale, Montrose, or Mooroolbark.”
Speaking of population, Ms Avery also said Lilydale and its surroundings have eight times more people than Healesville and its surroundings.
“Healesville has a population of around 7000 and spans over 142 square kilometres, including Yarra Glen, the population is 10,377,” she said.
“For Lilydale to match that size, it would need to include suburbs like Chirnside Park, Mooroolbark, Kilsyth, Mount Evelyn, Montrose and Coldstream, together that homes to over 85,000 people, all within 15 minutes of Lilydale.
“I’m not saying that the location must be Lilydale, but the report, as it stands, is misleading if we’re genuinely pursuing equity and access, then we need to ask the community what would be a good location.”
Jane Judd was the next presenter who advocated for Healesville to be the UCC location.
Ms Judd is the chairperson of Services for Healesville Hospital Action Group, which has been advocating for establishing an urgent care service in Healesville Hospital.
She explained her experience and involvement in Healesville Hospital and said a UCC in Healesville would serve 30,000 people including Ryrie and O’Shannassy Wards residents.
After Ms Judd’s presentation, Ryrie Ward councillor Fiona McAllister asked a question to Ms Judd to get her point of view regarding the assertions made by the previous presenter, Ms Avery.
“Whilst it might be fine to get an appointment at a GP during the day, what is the difference and how do the GP services and urgent care work together?” Cr McAllister asked.
Answering the question, Ms Judd said the ideal is to set up a UCC where a community health centre and a GP clinic already exist.
“That’s the ideal mix, because when people turn up to an urgent care centre, they do have an issue that needs immediate attention, but it’s not life-threatening, it also is a place where people can then be referred on to other services,” she said.
“The Yarra Valley Health and the GP clinic on the site at the hospital, for example, are an ideal mix to provide some care on the ground, not only just for that appointment but going into the future.”
Chirnside Ward councillor Richard Higgins asked if GPs are available on weekends at the Healesville Hospital.
“There’s a GP that has a few appointments in the evening,” Ms Judd answered.
Mayor and O’Shannassy Ward councillor Jim Child asked another question to Ms Judd regarding the Ambulance Victoria service availability in Healesville.
Ms Judd said the Healesville community has some challenges with it because there are only two ambulances actually allocated in the town.
“But they’re not dedicated. They actually can be called away,” she said.
“Last year, we had a young woman died with an asthma attack waiting for an ambulance up there because the ambulance had gone out of the area.”
After the two presentations, Cr McAllister moved the recommendation that Yarra Ranges Council advocates for bipartisan support for the recently announced Urgent Health Care Clinic to be located in Healesville.
“I know from many conversations with the community that many nights when you’ve got a screaming child or there’s a break, a bite or whatever might have played out, there is no support locally, and your only option is to get in your car, drive down the line for 45 minutes to an hour and sit in the emergency department at Maroondah Hospital, waiting,” she said.
“One of the outcomes, when we get our UCC in Healesville, will actually be reduced waiting times in emergency departments elsewhere.
“Ambulance response time is substantially longer than average. Recent figures show between 17 and 19 minutes on average, ambulance waiting in Healesville and surrounds. The permanent population (is) 30,000 but the extended catchment is larger, and we’re talking over 3 million visitors, mountain biking, hiking, coming in contact with all sorts of opportunities to need some support and urgent care. And the demand will grow.”
Cr Higgins was against the recommendation.
He said after reading the report, he got a strong view that the shire needs more GPs, not UCCs.
“(The report) refers to GPs multiple times. The only paragraph that we have about the UCC is in the background, it says the UCC is designed to address the gap between hospital and community-based healthcare with a goal of reducing avoidable emergency department usage and ambulance use,” he said.
“The whole document goes through and talks about GPs in Healesville or Yarra Glen. It doesn’t mention Woori Yallock, It doesn’t mention (Yarra) Junction. It doesn’t mention Warburton. I don’t know why.”
Cr Higgins continued, saying he couldn’t find any data supporting that Healesville is the right place for a UCC.
“My argument is councillors that, firstly, the federal government has identified that we’ve got too many people sitting on tables down at Maroondah (Hospital), and it’s all getting blocked up. The ambulance comes in and they have nowhere to put their gurneys,” he said.
“I just think we need to look at it properly and do figures that actually analyse what the outcome needs to be, what the actual need is. The need is we need to get people out of emergency wards.
“All I’m saying is it’s probably up to the state or federal government, to analyse that data and make the right decision.”
Instead of being in favour of supporting one town, Streeton Ward councillor Jeff Marriott suggested the idea of having two UCCs, one for each town, Lilydale and Healesville.
Walling Ward councillor Len Cox OAM agreed with Cr Marriott.
“I’ve been sitting here while the whole speeches have been going on, and I can’t justify voting for one without voting for both,” he said.
“The other alternative would be to put it in Coldstream. It doesn’t help much, but slightly better than the other option. But we do need two, maybe the motion should state that.”
Although Billanook Ward councillor Tim Heenan has family living in the Healesville and Upper Yarra region, he said he had to represent for people in his ward.
“I’d like to think that the federal government understood this when they came about the plan of having it located in Lilydale, it just has to get down to how much of the community is going to serve in its location,” Cr Heenan said.
“Obviously, we learnt tonight from Ms Avery that it would be serving over 80,000 people. Now I’ve listened to everything tonight, and I understand the time that it takes to get from certain distances to Maroondah Hospital and for the people in the Dandenong Ranges are on the other side to get across to William Angliss Hospital too.
“I’ve got to think of what the people of Mount Evelyn and Lilydale would want me to put forward on behalf of them as their representative … I would say that the federal government gave due thought and understanding to place it in a central location of Lilydale, central to all of those adjoining townships and suburbs with a much greater population, and that’s not to take anything away from Healesville.”
Mayor Child said the urban area of the municipality has two hospital facilities, Maroondah Hospital and Angliss Hospital, along with a Maroondah Medicare UCC in Bayswater, which the rural area doesn’t have.
“They’re there, and just as our report says, the urban area is well-catered,” he said.
“To me, Healesville is the right place because of that cohort of people, which that large area has to do with. 30,000 and they’re spread over this huge area, and they come in from other municipalities.”
After over an hour of discussion, the motion was passed with seven councillors voting for and two against.
