Fitzroy NYCH needs more funding to employ more GPs to serve the population that is growing rapidly.
 
The residents of Fitzroy have been experiencing difficulties when they would like to access the health services in North Yarra Community Health centre on 75 Brunswick Street because of the lack of GPs. This happens every day during the working hours and the lack of GPs in Victoria reflects on NYCH Fitzroy.
 
The Fitzroy clinic is one of three clinics that offer health services located in inner Melbourne suburbs. The other two are located in Carlton and Collingwood. They also run Drug Safety Services from a shop front in Johnston Street, Collingwood.
 
 
Patients who would like to make appointments to see their GP at Fitzroy NYCH centre generally have to be included in the waiting list for 2 weeks or more. The other option available is to see another doctor in other area. This is the major problem, most patients would like to keep their record with one doctor, and to access the services which is the nearest to their location.
 
 
The Fitzroy high rise area has the majority of population of Fitzroy, and the quality of services being delivered to the area are not suitable compared to the number of the residents who live in the area.
 
Long waiting times for residents can often result in a broken appointment or misuse of medication that is prescribed to another patient. It is commonplace in Fitzroy that people bring a lot of medicine from overseas for personal use. This can also be misused when there are long waiting times for residents in the area.
 
NYCH in Fitzroy provides essential health services to the area, and their staff they do a great job. What is missing is a substantial number of GPs which needs to more heavily considered in this area due the high population.
 
The lack of GPs in Victoria reflects in the staff shortages at NYCH Fitzroy.
 
Vera Boston, the chief director of NYCH graciously answered some questions about some of the problems facing NYCH.
 
yR: What do you think is the best way to minimize the gap between the services provided by NYCH and the services needed by the community? Taking into account that some residents cannot complain about the service or lack of service due to low confidence levels in writing and the English language.
 
VB: The services that we provide are largely determined by the funding we receive from Government – for example, we have not received funding for a Refugee Nurse position, even though we feel strongly that such a position would be very useful.  So even though residents have low confidence in writing in English, they should use interpreters (and other opportunities) to make sure that Government and their local members of Parliament are aware of their needs,
 

yR:Is there a procedure in place that when there is a broken appointment - it can be filled straight away so another patient can see the doctor instead?
 
VB:Broken appointments are a real financial burden on the Community Health Centre. We estimate that the cost of broken appointments is about $300 000 per year. In addition, there is another cost – the cost of somebody else being denied the appointment.  If we are given 24 hours notice of inability to keep an appointment, then we can of course fill it – the problem is really the broken appointment when the booked patient simply does not arrive, or calls 10 minutes before the appointment – in those cases we are usually not able to fill it as the notice is too short.
 
yR: Do you think it could be valuable for community members to do voluntary work, such as translating the procedures and practices of NYCH so that the residents benefit, resulting in less broken appointments etc.?
 
VB: There are many opportunities for volunteers to get involved with NYCH. In relation to translation of information we give out, we would in general require that the people doing the translating hold accredited qualifications
 
yR:How long do you think it will be before we see residents of North Yarra included and/or consulted by the board of directors in regards to the service gap we see now?
 
VB: The Board values the views of residents and is keen to hear from them – for example we hold regular quarterly meetings that the community is welcome to attend. It is also important to know that any resident can apply to become a member of North Yarra Community Health, and can then vote for the Directors who make up the Board. I am very pleased that over the past three years we have always had at least one Director who is a resident of Public Hosing in Yarra
 
yR: What do you think about involving the residents to make your organization more effective, and to improve the health services and to get urgent solutions?
 
VB: That is a policy of NYCH – we have a number of ways in which we involve residents in the organisation. Some examples include:
 
- By becoming a member of the company and voting for Directors top go onto the Board.
- By coming to the Community Liaison and Participation Committee meetings
- By going onto a steering group or committee for some of the projects we run.
- By writing to us or speaking directly to us about suggestions for improvements
- By filling out surveys and questionnaires
- By volunteering their skills and expertise
 

Residents of the Fitzroy area and NYCH want the same thing. To overcome this problem and provide more accessible and comprehensive services in the future, NYCH will require more government and private funding and better communication to its clients.