There are hopes the tender for the Casey Urgent Care Clinic (UCC) site will still consider applications from surrounding towns after an advance tender notice states it will be in Lilydale.
Since the federal government announced the plan to deliver 50 more UCCs across the nation, including Lilydale as one of the target areas, the community has voiced its preference for it to be located in Healesville, not Lilydale.
During the election period, both Liberal and Labor candidates advocated it to be in Healesville, considering the town’s capacity to serve more people in rural areas.
Yarra Ranges Council also endorsed the motion to advocate for the UCC to be located in Healesville at the 8 April council meeting.
After seeing the advance notice of tender released on the Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network website on 5 August, the re-elected Casey MP, Aaron Violi, said it is frustrating that Labor has overlooked the needs in more rural areas of the Casey community, like Healesville.
“I ran a petition calling on the government to establish a Medicare UCC in our community. This was signed by thousands of local residents who want to see better healthcare closer to home. I am proud our petition was listened to by the government and resulted in a Medicare UCC in the Yarra Ranges,” he said.
“I recently received confirmation this clinic will be in Lilydale. While a clinic in Lilydale is a step forward, it does little to help families in our rural and remote areas who are still left travelling long distances to access healthcare.
“Labor knows we need better access to healthcare in these areas. During the election, the Labor candidate said more than once that Healesville would be the location of the UCC. Healesville and Upper Yarra residents are feeling misled. They were told one thing by Labor before the election – and now they are missing out on the quality healthcare promised.
“As the member for Casey, I will work together with the community to continue pushing for better local healthcare right across our region.”
Services for Healesville Hospital Action Group (SHHAG), formerly called Save Healesville Hospital Action Group, which has been pursuing the establishment of an urgent care service in Healesville Hospital for 12 years, as the closest hospital equipped with the service, Maroondah Hospital, is about 50 minutes away from the town.
Since the advance notice was released online, the group once again chased up to clarify whether sites only in Lilydale could apply for the tender or sites in the surrounding towns could submit it as well.
SHHAG chairperson Jane Judd said SHHAG sought clarification from the Minister of Health’s Office via local senator Lisa Darmanin.
“We queried the meaning of the advance tender notice and specifically who could tender. The final tender will define a service delivery catchment area. Any eligible provider from within the catchment can submit a tender. Healesville is within the service area,” she said.
“So I was absolutely delighted to hear that, which means if Eastern Health is interested in responding to the community demands, then they will put some energy into putting in a tender using the community health service at the hospital and the accredited Healesville GP practice to do so.
“SHHAG would do anything possible to support Eastern Health and the GP clinic at the site. Our focus now has to be on waiting for the tender to confirm the area and then encouraging Eastern Health and offering support to put a tender in.”
Federal Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler will announce the commencement of the UCC sites tender process in Victoria soon.
