{"id":479956,"date":"2026-06-02T22:57:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T22:57:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/479956\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T22:57:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T22:57:20","slug":"medicare-bulk-billing-model-forces-kalbarri-doctors-surgery-closure-director-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/479956\/","title":{"rendered":"Medicare bulk-billing model forces Kalbarri Doctors Surgery closure, director says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Residents in the Midwest town of Kalbarri will face at least a two-hour round trip to see a doctor, after the local GP announced it would close in June.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kalbarri, 570 kilometres north of Perth, is a popular coastal destination for tourists and home to about 1,500 people.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, the town’s only GP, Kalbarri Doctors Surgery, announced it would close on June 25 after being unable to stay afloat since shifting to a fully bulk-billed model.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is not the first doctor’s clinic to close in the region, with the neighbouring town of Northampton temporarily losing its doctor’s surgery<\/a> last July.<\/p>\n

The announcement has come as a shock to residents who are worried about how the community will cope.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Kalbarri Doctors Surgery will remain open until June 25 to finalise patient appointments. (ABC News: Maren Preuss)<\/p>\n

Bulk billing sinks GP<\/p>\n

MediBloom previously operated Northampton Doctor’s Surgery, which is 100km away from its Kalbarri clinic.<\/p>\n

Director Christopher Hamilton said he was “deeply saddened” to close the Kalbarri clinic, but it was no longer financially viable since switching to a fully bulk-billed model.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the last federal election, the Albanese government\u00a0pledged to make nine out of 10 GP visits free\u00a0by the end of the decade<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The surgery had shifted to a fully bulk-billed model. (AAP: Tracey Nearmy)<\/p>\n

Mr Hamilton said the model did not account for regional operating costs, which also led to the closure of the Northampton practice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“The reality is that the cost of operating a fully bulk-billed remote GP clinic now exceeds the funding available to support it,” he said.<\/p>\n

“For clinics like ours, the available support has not matched the cost of delivering safe, compliant and accessible care in a remote community,” he said.<\/p>\n

The Northampton clinic was reopened by a different provider in November under a 12-month trial.<\/p>\n

“Kalbarri deserves local healthcare. We are deeply saddened that we have reached this point,” Mr Hamilton said.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/p>\n

Kalbarri is home to around 1,500 people, about 570km north of Perth. (ABC Midwest Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n

‘Fall like dominoes’<\/p>\n

Panaceum Group operates multiple medical practices further south of Kalbarri in the regional hub of Geraldton.<\/p>\n

With the financial backing of the Shire of Northampton, the business has stationed a GP in the town three or four days a week.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Kalbarri residents rely on the doctor’s surgery. (ABC Midwest & Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n

Panaceum director Ian Taylor said Midwest practices were already stretched.<\/p>\n

Mr Taylor said local governments were increasingly having to intervene, putting unfair costs on ratepayers.<\/p>\n

“The federal government is not providing adequate resources for general practices to be able to survive and operate in rural and remote locations,” he said.<\/p>\n

“If we’re not careful, they’ll just gradually fall over like dominoes.”<\/p>\n

A federal government spokesperson said they understood regional residents faced greater challenges due to “tyranny of distance” and investment was tailored to meet remote needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Bulk-billing incentives are paid to GPs for every patient they bulk bill, and this payment is scaled by remoteness with Kalbarri GPs receiving a rebate 180 per cent more than metro locations,” they said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The investment is prioritising regional and rural areas with half of government-funded GP training occurring in regional areas.”<\/p>\n

Residents worried<\/p>\n

Monica Muellner and her husband moved from Bunbury to Kalbarri for a sea change 14 months ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Being a diabetic and also recently diagnosed with breast cancer, Ms Muellner said she relied on her local GP.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I need blood tests every three months and to go in and have a chat with a doctor about how things are going,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Only a few weeks ago, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, so mentally it’s a huge hurdle, but it’s lovely to be able to just go to the doctors and have a talk about it.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Monica Muellner and her husband are wondering whether they need to move to where healthcare services are available. (Supplied: Monica Muellner)<\/p>\n

Ms Muellner said having a doctor who lived in town and served the community was irreplaceable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It can’t be replaced because you know them [the doctor] quite well \u2026 when you’ve got any concerns mentally or if you’re not doing too well, they’re a great source of reassurance,” she said.<\/p>\n

“There’s plenty of elderly people [in Kalbarri], and I don’t know how they’ll get to see a doctor because they can’t drive.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ms Muellner said she and her husband were considering moving again to where healthcare services were guaranteed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“In the back of our minds, we’re starting to think, have we done the right thing and can we actually stay here and live here [without a doctor]?” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Sue Smith says she is shocked by the news. (Supplied: Sue Smith)<\/p>\n

Kalbarri resident of 10 years, Sue Smith, said the closure was “devastating”.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been very unwell at times in the past, and there’s been no hesitation about finding me an appointment when I need it,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“People might not be able to get themselves [from Kalbarri] to Geraldton because of their health \u2026 I think they’ll feel less inclined [to seek medical help].”\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Residents in the Midwest town of Kalbarri will face at least a two-hour round trip to see a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[206856,206855,44063,69189,206853,103,397,396,61,60,206854,8677,130621,206857,3635],"class_list":["post-479956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-bulk-billing","tag-doctors-surgery","tag-general-practitioners","tag-gp","tag-gp-shortage","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-medibloom","tag-medicare","tag-midwest","tag-panaceum-group","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}