Kardinia Health is an exciting and innovative Practice providing the opportunity to deliver a model for primary health care provision incorporating the values of traditional general practice with multidisciplinary, team based care and an academic research unit in general practice; whilst responding to changing community needs and the pressing need to train the next generation of primary health care providers.
Whilst the Clinic was funded for its establishment capital costs from the Department of Health and Ageing’s GP Super Clinic Program (the Department’s Super Clinic Program), Kardinia Health is a self-sufficient not-for-profit entity.
It is governed by a Board of Directors with representation from the Western Victoria Primary Health Network, Deakin University and Barwon Health as founding members and includes representatives from a broad skill base in the community.
As a dedicated training and academic General Practice, Kardinia Health has state of the art teaching facilities and information technology systems, optimized to facilitate teaching and linking with other teaching facilities throughout the Barwon South Western Region.
A mix of allied health workers and nurses work alongside General Practitioners and GP Registrars all work to provide a team-based care approach at the clinic. The mix is determined by the needs of the local community and includes dietitians, physiotherapists, psychologists and mental health support, podiatrist, exercise physiologist, diabetes educator, remedial massage therapist and Covid-19 Respiratory Clinic. There is a pharmacy, pathology collection centre and Audiology service also located in the building.
All health care practitioners work alongside each other, aiming to deliver:
- Responsive to local community needs and priorities, including the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people
- Increased primary health care infrastructure;
- Improved access to integrated, multidisciplinary primary care health services; and
- Increased education and training placements in a multidisciplinary care setting for the future primary care workforce
- Inter-professional education and primary care delivery that deal with the current issues of GP shortages in rural and regional Australia
- Australian Department of Health and Ageing’s objectives for the GP Super clinic program
- Support for preventive care
- Integration with local programs and initiatives
