Moyne Health Services' care level dropped, says former president

Garry Lockett, a past hospital president and a prominent community member, says patients are being told to go to Warrnambool's hospital when trying to receive assistance after hours.

But Moyne Health Services chief executive Jackie Kelly says the urgent care centre is open 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week.

"The people of Port Fairy, Yambuk, Koroit and all others who have contributed to the local hospital would like to know why there is no longer an emergency facility after hours," Mr Lockett said.

"All the new buildings are great for the administration staff but it appears we have lost a ward and an emergency after-hours department.

"I know of a number of locals who tried to obtain after hours emergency treatment who were simply told to go to Warrnambool - which usually involves many hours of waiting.

"It appears that all the years of raising funds has seen our hospital appear to be smart and impressive where in fact we have a service nothing like we used to.

"As a past president of the hospital I have spoken to nurses and other employees and they too are alarmed that we appear to have built a castle for the administration staff at the expense of losing the wonderful hospital we once had.

"Ask questions before you donate any more because the giant new mausoleum is no longer a hospital to treat locals for any after hours emergencies."

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A total of 1662 patients presented to the urgent care centre from March 2020 to February 2021 and 161 of those were transferred to the Warrnambool Base Hospital over the same period.

In 2019, 1714 patients presented to the centre, an increase of more than 700 from 943 patients in 2018.

The service has a 45 per cent rate of patients consulted by a medical professional, and 13 per cent transfer rate to Warrnambool.

Ms Kelly said the hospital hadn't lost any wards.

"At the moment the majority of services are nurse-led and we have the option of on-call GP services on weekends over the busy summer period and My Emergency Dr, an app which we have access to 24/7.

"We have put out an expression of interest for medical support for our urgent care centre, we're waiting to finalise that and there will be a public announcement.

"We already have the Port Fairy Medical Clinic providing support in our acute ward and aged care.

"I think it's been going fantastically well."

The urgent care centre is a walk-in service for minor illnesses and injuries.

Ms Kelly said every patient that presented to the centre was assessed.

"We've been able to see every person every time and been able to give them a service," she said.

"We see things like simple bumps and bruises and cuts, UTIs, breathlessness, chest pain and more.

"We assess all those things and make a decision based on our scope of practice.

"We have an extended scope of practice now with a number of nurses with additional training."

She thanked the community for its ongoing support of the rural health service.

"We had a fantastic community fundraising process and they gave to us generously," Ms Kelly said.

"We have a state-of-the-art urgent care centre and acute ward and think it's functioning very well.

"We have lots of locals and a huge number of holidaymakers accessing the service, it's a real asset to the community.

"For a small rural health service 20 minutes away from a regional hospital I think we do exceptionally well."

The hospital has two registered nurses on at all times, seven-days-a-week.

The Port Fairy Medical Clinic stopped providing on-call services to the urgent care centre four years ago.

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