The cohealth Board acknowledges the distress and uncertainty experienced across communities following the announcement of GP service closures at Collingwood, Fitzroy and Kensington.
The decision to close these services was unavoidable, and the Board was deeply challenged by it.
As a charity delivering more than 46 services across 30 sites, we carry a legal, financial, and moral responsibility to safeguard the long-term sustainability of all cohealth’s essential services.
The GP-led complex care model has for many years been underfunded, placing growing financial strain on cohealth and threatening the viability of our other vital services relied on by thousands of people.
Over many years, cohealth has called for a long-term sustainable funding solution, but we could no longer sustain the growing gap between the cost of delivering complex community-based care and the funding available.
We could not continue to be the charity who carried the cost of delivering complex care that the system would not.
Since the closure announcement – we have heard clearly and powerfully – from clients, families, community leaders, staff, GPs and nurses.
We knew the impact of the service closures was going to be significant, and this has been evident in the response from community. We heard what closures would mean for the people who rely on these services every day: the loss of trusted relationships, the disruption of complex care, and profound impacts on health, stability, and wellbeing.
In recent weeks, we have listened to personal accounts from clients and families who have shared with us experiences of long-standing relationships with GPs and nurses, and of trusted, wrap-around care that has supported people through chronic illness, trauma, addiction, homelessness, mental ill-health, and family violence.
They spoke to the life-changing role these services have in people’s lives and the deep connection between these clinics and their communities.
We want our communities to know – we heard you, and your voices matter.
We listened and acted out of a profound moral obligation to these clients and to the communities that hold and support them.
The Board made a decision to defer the planned closures of the three clinics and fund these services for an extended period to ensure the vulnerable Victorians who depend on them would not be left without care.
We took this position to the Federal Government knowing that more time was essential, and that the consequences of closure would have been far-reaching for our clients, communities, and the broader health system already under significant strain.
Building on years of calling for improved funding for general practice in community health, strengthened by urgent efforts in recent months – we sought their partnership.
Government acknowledged the need for service continuity and time to find a solution, agreeing to provide bridging funding.
We welcome today’s joint commitment between the Federal Government and cohealth, that will keep these services open until July 31, 2026.
This partnership ensures an immediate continuity of care while a long-term, sustainable solution is developed.
We also welcome the independent review of the GP-led complex care model.
An assessment of whether the complex-GP model is delivering the client outcomes and comprehensive, relationship-based care it was established to provide, and whether its governance, operational and financial settings enable the model to function as intended will be valuable.
It represents an important opportunity to address long-standing structural issues and to design a model that properly recognises the complexity, time and multidisciplinary support required to care for people with chronic illness, trauma, homelessness, addiction, mental ill-health, and family violence.
We commit to working closely with Government to explore innovative, enduring, and sustainable approaches that secure the future of community-based healthcare.
The bridging funding offered is specifically to fund delivery of the GP-led complex care services until 31 July 2026.
The cohealth Board remains dedicated to safeguarding the essential health and social services that communities rely on, particularly those experiencing significant health and social challenges.
We will continue to work with Federal and State Governments, our Leadership team, our GPs, nurses and care teams, and the community health sector to ensure people with complex needs receive the trusted, wrap-around and locally connected care that keeps our communities alive.
— The cohealth Board
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