After-hours healthcare for the residents of Gumeracha and surrounds will be restored from Monday 29 May, three years on from the closure of the Gumeracha District Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital Emergency Department (ED).
The Gumeracha after-hours nurse-led clinic at the hospital will provide the local community timely access to urgent, non-emergency care, including access to virtual medical support when required.
The service will provide urgent care after-hours for illnesses and injuries – similar to those which would be managed at a GP clinic – when patients are unable to see their usual doctor.
The State Labor Government has been working to address the lack of healthcare in the Northern Hills region since the former Liberal Government closed the Gumeracha Emergency Department (ED) along with 9 other EDs in regional SA at the start of the COVID pandemic, initially to reduce transmission to adjacent nursing homes.
Since then, increasing demand for GP services and a lack of qualified health practitioners in the area has made it difficult to re-open the facility.
Following advocacy from community Advocate Joel Taggart and Independent Kavel MP Dan Cregan, Health Minister Chris Picton set up a working group last year to decide on a model of care that could re-establish some necessary services.
The group comprised Joel Taggart, longserving Gumeracha GP Dr Geoff Symons, representatives of the Barossa Hills Fleurieu Local Health Network, and the Presiding Member of the Adelaide Hills Health Advisory Council.
The new service will operate from 29 May – Monday to Friday 4:00pm to 8:00pm, and Saturdays and Sundays 10:00am to 4:00pm, excluding public holidays. The service will be evaluated after six months of operation.
Photo of Gumeracha Hospital, supplied Dan Cregan MP
