'Not financially viable': Hobart Place General Practice in Canberra city to close

Hobart Place General Practice in the city will close on April 30, with GPs saying it was no longer financially viable to run the mixed-billing practice. The clinic has been operating for 40 years.

With a number of doctors over the age of 65 retiring, the clinic did not have any applicants for trainee doctors. This meant it could not keep up with registration requirements or afford to continue running.

A note on the clinic's website said: "We've found it increasingly difficult to practise the mixed billing model in general practice.

"Many GPs think that working at Hobart Place General Practice will also mean working with a lot of complex and challenging patients and so have avoided applying to work with us."

Practice GP Dr Denise Kraus said it was an "absolute privilege" to work at the clinic for 26 of her 40 years as a GP.

"I feel very sad about it's imminent closure," she said.

"It's been an absolute privilege and pleasure to work in this practice, and to be able to treat many patients from cradle to grave."

She said up to 20 people call up the clinic each day, wanting to be seen as new patients.

The practice was set up partly to cater for Canberrans with HIV, Dr Kraus said. It has also provided low-cost mental health care.

"With the lack of psychiatric services in the ACT, readily accessible, low cost psychiatric services, this general practice has also been pivotal in providing psychiatric support," she said.

READ MORE: Are co-ops the future of bulk billing?

Patients include refugees, students, and people on disability and low-income cards.

Over the years, fewer and fewer patients have been offered bulk-billing due to the Medicare rebate failing to increase with inflation.

The Medicare Rebate Schedule rewards shorter consultations financially, but Hobart Place always offered longer times with patients, Dr Kraus said.

Practice clinician Dr Adnan Alam said the practice was "not financially viable" to run anymore.

He said many GPs were still working out what they would do next.

"We're still trying to find out ... where we're all gonna end up," he said.

GP Dr Joo-Inn Chew, who works at Hobart Place, said the closure would impact "thousands" of Canberrans.

"There's a lot of people that will be really affected. And as we know, it's really hard to find general practitioners, and it's hard to find affordable primary care. So I think that a lot of people that will be struggling to work out where to go next," she said.

"We've always been known for a lot of work with marginalised and disadvantaged communities.

"[But] we've really struggled to bridge that divide between making sure that people can see a doctor and that cost isn't a barrier, but also being able to keep the clinic open and pay the rent and pay the staff."

READ MORE:

Dr Alam said while he hoped his patients would follow him to a new practice, he knew there would be barriers.

"The location is going to be a bit of a barrier," he said.

"I see a lot of students from ANU, a lot of them don't have cars.

"A lot of the patients that I see are live in public housing nearby, or live near the city centre. And a lot of them are elderly and ... a lot of them will struggle to move to a different clinic, that is sort of further out."

Dr Alam also fears many patients will be unable to afford other GPs, as there is very little bulk-billing in the ACT.

The ACT bulk-billing rate of five per cent is the lowest in the country.

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.