A nurse practitioner-led urgent care service in the Huon Valley will cease to exist from June 30 after the Tasmanian government cut its $250,000 annual funding.
Cygnet Family Practice announced the closure of its urgent and after-hours service over the weekend, blaming a lack of ongoing state funding in the budget.
The service has operated for four years, providing about 100 extra same-day appointments each week at times when waits to see a GP have stretched to four weeks.
Led by a nurse practitioner and community paramedic, the service has previously won a national Medicare award.
“99% of people seen at our service have had their health care needs met by the knowledge, skill and expertise of the nurse practitioners and community paramedics,” the practice said.
The practice “conservatively” estimates the service saves the state budget up to $1 million a year by reducing ambulance call-outs and presentations to the Royal Hobart Hospital emergency department.
Independent Franklin MP Peter George has joined constituents fighting to save the service.
“Despite saving the state an estimated $1 million a year for the past four years in ambulance and hospital costs, the $250,000 after-hours funding has fallen victim to the budget axe,” George said.
He questioned the state government’s plan to spend $15 million building a medical hub in Huonville.
“That money could be far more wisely used funding the sort of innovative practices that has served Cygnet and the wider community so well,” George said.
The Huonville precinct was promised at the 2025 election as the first of five TassieDoc bulk-billing clinics, with the original commitment including after-hours and weekend GP services.
Almost a year on, no site has been chosen for the Huonville precinct.
Patients have travelled from as far as Geeveston and Dover to use the Cygnet service.
Retired Cygnet GP James Duff called the model “a smart, simple and cost-effective way to improve emergency and after-care services in the Huon”.
Health Minister Bridget Archer defended the decision, arguing primary care was a federal government responsibility.
“Our government has continually been forced to step in and provide services that should be funded by the Commonwealth,” Archer said.
“We can no longer afford to step in and fund primary care services that are the Commonwealth’s responsibility.”
Archer called on federal Labor MPs Rebecca White and Julie Collins to secure funding for GP services in Tasmania.
The closure comes as the state government faces pressure over health funding, with the Department of Health required to find more than $700 million in operational efficiencies over the coming years.
