{"id":711986,"date":"2026-06-03T06:11:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/711986\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T06:11:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:11:35","slug":"two-tasmanian-primary-health-services-receive-funding-reprieve-after-budget-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/711986\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Tasmanian primary health services receive funding reprieve after budget cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two southern Tasmanian primary health services that had their funding cut in last week’s state budget<\/a> have been given a one-year lifeline.<\/p>\n

After cutting funding for Moreton Group Medical Services’s mobile GP program and the Cygnet Family Practice’s urgent care and after-hours service, the state government yesterday said it would now provide “one-year transitional funding”, extending the funding agreements with both services until the end of June next year.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson said it would “allow the federal government time to take over the funding”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The 2026-27 state budget did not include funding for the two services, but they have since been given a one-year lifeline. (ABC News: Jake Grant)<\/p>\n

The Cygnet Family Practice’s urgent care and after-hours service operates three days a week on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and offers more than 100 appointments each week in the town 45 minutes south of Hobart.<\/p>\n

Co-owner and nurse practitioner Kerrie Duggan said she would work with the federal government, but the state government also had a role to play.<\/p>\n

“While the federal government is responsible for primary health care and general practice and\u00a0the state government is responsible for hospital and ambulance, the two services overlap,” she said.<\/p>\n

“For example, this project that we’ve been doing for four years now has actually saved the state government over $1 million each year for a service that takes $250,000 to service.<\/p>\n

“And that means that we’ve decreased ambulance admissions, we’ve decreased hospital and emergency department admissions for people that could be better managed \u2014 and at less cost \u2014 in their local community.”<\/p>\n

\"woman<\/p>\n

Kerrie Dugan says both the state and federal governments have a role to play in primary health. (ABC News: Edoardo Falcione)<\/p>\n

She said the practice had treated a 92-year-old patient on Thursday who was developing pneumonia.<\/p>\n

“I was able to call on our nurse practitioner and community paramedic to do a home visit, where they assessed her fully and they provided prescribed antibiotics, ordered a chest X-ray, ordered and took blood tests and this person was able to stay home, in the comfort of their own home.”<\/p>\n

Ms Duggan said the patient “had all the care that they needed to stay out of hospital”.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The Cygnet Family Practice’s urgent care and after-hours service adds more than 100 appointments each week. (ABC News: Peter Curtis)<\/p>\n

Moreton Group’s mobile GP program has delivered 9,000 free appointments in regional and disadvantaged communities in the south of the state over two years.<\/p>\n

Moreton Group’s Rob Moreton last night posted on social media thanking those who had helped lobby to keep the service operating.<\/p>\n

“This is going to be transitional funding to help us transition to another model,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The state government is quite rightly saying that primary health care is a federal responsibility \u2026 they’re talking to us about how we can advocate for ongoing funding through the federal government to make the program sustainable and ongoing.”<\/p>\n

\"Rob<\/p>\n

Rob Moreton has welcomed the funding extension. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

The Moreton Group service was an election promise from the Liberals, made during the 2024 campaign when the party pledged $500,000 to deliver a two-year trial.<\/p>\n

At the time, the party said the program would “help reduce emergency department presentations at hospital and ambulance call-outs”.<\/p>\n

The party has also said it “would look to extend the Mobile GP Clinic statewide”.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Tasmanian Health Minister Bridget Archer said the state could “no longer fill the gaps that are being left by the federal government”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Bridget Archer says Tasmania can no longer “fill the gaps” in primary health. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the federal Health, Disability and Aging Department said it was “disappointing the Tasmanian government is disinvesting in primary care”.<\/p>\n

“While the Commonwealth is the majority funder of primary care, states have a role to play, particularly in regional areas,” the spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“The Commonwealth provides significant support to Cygnet Family Practice and has a positive relationship with the organisation.<\/p>\n

“We will continue to work with Cygnet Family Practice and the local community on the health needs of the region.”<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said the federal government was continuing to strengthen access to primary care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two southern Tasmanian primary health services that had their funding cut in last week’s state budget have been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":693029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,10950,1480,346097,2494,137,500,4270,346098,86032,248039,15435],"class_list":["post-711986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bridget-archer","tag-budget","tag-cygnet-family-practice","tag-funding","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-jeremy-rockliff","tag-moreton-group","tag-state-budget","tag-tasmanian","tag-urgent-care"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/693029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}