A recent tender by Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD) for the provision of medical services at Barham Hospital has gone unawarded, with MLHD stating, “This tender process has now been completed and, as a result, it is not sustainable to continue the provision of medical services in their current format.”

The move comes as a blow for Ochre Health, which has operated the Barham and District Medical Centre since 2009. For the past 15 years, Ochre has been contracted by MLHD to provide medical services to Barham Hospital. 

This arrangement provided GP Visiting Medical Officers (VMOs), who support the hospital 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, as well as seeing patients in the local Medical Centre.

Now, with the arrangement terminated, MLHD themselves will begin recruitment for GP VMOs to provide medical services at Barham Hospital.

Ochre Health CEO Dermot Roche says the company is disappointed with the outcome, but proud of having facilitated the delivery of medical services to the hospital for 15 years. “We have been honoured and privileged to serve the community for so long and, in doing so, to support the work of many exceptional doctors.”

Ochre Health emphatically stresses that it is prepared and has always been prepared to accommodate the services required for local doctors and are very sad about the recent announcement.

In the meantime, MLHD has urged residents to continue to present to the hospital’s emergency department if they require urgent assessment and treatment.

MLHD stated, “When a doctor is unavailable on-site, staff have on-demand virtual access to senior clinicians who specialise in emergency medicine.”

The move by MLHD will put additional pressure on the community’s ability to retain and attract GP’s. In a statement, Ochre Health said, “The loss of the hospital contract affects the workload and income of the current doctors practicing in the Medical Centre. It therefore also impacts Ochre Health’s ability to retain them or attract more doctors, and ultimately, the viability of the Medical Centre operation itself.”

Going on to add “Despite the loss of the hospital contract, Ochre Health will do everything possible to maintain the operations of the Medical Centre.”

Mr Roche said, “We have a wonderful team and the doctors we support are a lovely couple who have bought a house in Barham and love living in town. We have also had a very strong, 15-year partnership with the Barham Local Health Medical Trust, not-for-profit charity run by a community volunteer board. The Trust is our Medical Centre ‘landlord’, but its board members have also been amazing advocates in attracting doctors and supporting the practice.”

The Barham Local Health Medical Trust issued the following statement in relation to MLHD decision:

“The Barham Local Health Medical Trust is obviously extremely disappointed in the VMO outcome for our hospital and Medical Centre and all effected staff.

“We are liaising with all key stakeholders to obtain the best outcome for our community.

“We ask for your patience as we schedule a number of meetings to advocate for the whole community.

“We will endeavour to keep everyone informed as much as possible during this time.

“We appreciate the help of the many people and organisations who are a key to this process.”

This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 8 February 2024.