Toowoomba aged care home appoints in-house GP

As part of a trial project to reduce after-hours hospital admissions, a Toowoomba aged care home has received funding to establish an onsite medical clinic.

Residents of Salem Northridge Lutheran Rest Home now have access to a local general practitioner (GP) at least once a week in their newly refurbished consultation room.

The Darling Downs South Queensland Medicare Local gave $20 thousand to put towards state-of-the-art medical equipment, enabling the onsite GP to perform minor surgical procedures previously done offsite.

The Medicare Local identified the needs of Salem Northridge Lutheran Rest Home after extensive consultation with local service providers regarding after-hours medical service.

Too many residents with non-life-threatening conditions were being transferred to hospital, often braving cold weather and travel to see a doctor.

Northridge Salem director of nursing Maxine Noone said the residents are delighted to have their own on-site GP because they no longer have to worry about travelling to appointments and waiting in queues.

“Having a GP onsite also make the staff jobs easier as they can stay on-top of specific health issues before they become acute,” Ms Noone said.

“They can also ask the GP any questions directly to save time.”

Visiting GP Dr Elizabeth Flynn said the introduction of the clinic will not only reduce premature hospital admissions, it will improve the culture of care by giving staff further education prospects.

“I see great opportunities for building an effective team relationship between the visiting GP and staff,” Dr Flynn said.

Ms Noone said there has been considerable interest from surrounding residential aged care facilities about the new service. 

Image: Dr Elizabeth Flynn, visiting GP and resident Lisbeth Willadsen. CONTRIBUTED.