Three new bulk-billing GP clinics opening in Canberra

Three new bulk-billing GP clinics are opening in Canberra in a bid to address a shortage of affordable healthcare in the capital.

The first clinic, Coombs Bulk Billing Practice, opened in Phillip today, and will eventually move to a permanent site in Molonglo.

The Next Practice Community South Tuggeranong will open in Conder tomorrow, and then a third clinic will begin treating patients in Gungahlin from July.

The federal government announced in September last year that it was seeking expressions of interest for the clinics after it made a 2024 election commitment to introduce three bulk-billing services.

The government said $10.5 million would be invested as "seed funding" to establish the three clinics, as a one-off payment.

That prompted questions about whether the clinics could be maintained long-term to meet the city's needs for bulk-billing healthcare.

Hopes clinics will address 'age-old problem'

The three new clinics will take the number of practices in the ACT that fully bulk-bill to 23.

The federal government said eight of those had switched from mixed billing since November 2025, when further investment was made into Medicare.

ACT Senator Katy Gallagher said there had since been a "slight uptick" in bulk-billing but that it was "not enough".

"With the new clinics opening in Woden, Tuggeranong, and soon Gungahlin, we're making it easier for Canberrans to see a doctor without worrying about the cost," she said.

"We want to see the number of bulk-billed presentations across Canberra continue to increase."

She said the government wanted to tackle the "age-old problem" of the bulk-billing shortage.

"We know the bulk-billing rate is still too low,"

she said.

"It's come up about 1.5 per cent since our incentives were put in place, so it's sitting now at just over 54 per cent of all consultations that are bulk-billed.

"But we know the national average is about 81 per cent, so we've got a fair way to go till we get closer to that."

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said Canberra had had "issues with GP availability for a long time".

"Having three new GP clinics will help make medical care cheaper and more accessible for many Canberrans," Mr Butler said.

Plans for 'innovative' clinic

Hamish Meldrum, co-founder and chief medical officer at Ochre Health Group which won the bidding process to operate the Phillip clinic, said he wanted to be "innovative" with the practice.

"We'd like to offer patients a really good, comprehensive service with a lot of screening and a lot of high-touch care delivery," he said.

"We're really excited about some of the things we may be able to do with this additional funding."

Canberra GPs were "very good at looking after disadvantaged people" despite the challenges, Dr Meldum said.

"It's probably not fair to compare Canberra to all of New South Wales because Canberra people do earn quite a bit more money than people perhaps in other states and territories," he said.

But he said the gap was nonetheless "quite big" and they welcomed the opportunity to do "something different" with the new clinic and address the shortage.

He said his company was also recruiting new doctors to the ACT, including some from other countries, to meet demand.

Dr Meldrum said data showed GPs in Australia now worked fewer hours than they did prior to the pandemic, which had increased strain on the healthcare system.

But that system was adapting, he added.

"If you look at the percentages of overseas trained doctors in Australia, it's pretty high,"

he said.

"At the same time, we are graduating more doctors. More people are showing interest in general practice, and more doctors are being trained locally.

"The problem is GPs are working less hours. COVID has changed the workforce. Now a typical GP is working three days a week."

Concerns over workforce sustainability

Betty Ge, the president of the ACT branch of the Australian Medical Association (AMA), said the new clinics would not solve Canberra's shortage of healthcare workers.

"We struggle to get our GP workforce as it is, so I guess [from the] AMA ACT perspective, we're conservatively optimistic about it, but I think it's a real question about where we magically get those 30 GPs," Dr Ge said.

"I hope the organisations who started all these clinics have their game plan and hopefully our government has got more incentives under their belt to attract the workforce.

"In terms of the ongoing sustainability of the workforce, I think we need to see more commitment and determination from our local government."

She echoed concerns raised last year about the longevity of the clinics, adding that the ACT was unique in that the cost of running a GP practice in the territory was relatively high.

"Any money into general practice, we welcome that, but it's how we spend that funding,"

she said.

"So these three bulk-billing clinics, I guess the current plan is for [them to be funded for the] next two to three years, based on my understanding.

"My question is, what would happen after, when the funding dries up? When the funding dries up, the clinic will face closure and who's going to take over patient care?"