“THE STAR”, Tuesday, July 29, 2008 - PAGE 7

Continued from page 1. “The (Loch) station has not been closed. It is just that

the member is on leave. While he’s away patrol duties are carried out from Korumburra,” Sen. Sgt Smith said.

Meanwhile, the demand for more police is growing as the population in Bass Coast and South Gippsland increas-es.

For major events in Bass Coast, and especially on Phillip Island, such as the Grand Prix bike race, Wonthaggi head-quarters, the region’s only 24-hour station, needed to get additional resources from “further afi eld”, Sen. Sgt Smith said.

Sen. Sgt Steve Gibson is in charge of Wonthaggi station, which has 27 members. Sen. Sgt Smith rejected suggestions there was a staff shortage, since recent management chang-es have given Bass Coast and South Gippsland an additional senior sergeant and a strengthening of command.

Sen. Sgt Trevor Vondrasek joined Wonthaggi a couple of months ago. He is in charge of Bass Coast stations, includ-ing Inverloch, Cowes and San Remo, major event policing on the Island and emergency response coordination.

Of major concern is the situation in Mirboo North, which was allocated a station sergeant, Ian Ricardo, in addition to Senior Constable Matt Bennett.

However, Sgt Ricardo has been re-called to Wonthaggi to head the Criminal Investigation Unit in the absence of Detective Sergeant Steve Mansell who is on sick leave. Sen. Sgt Smith could not say when Sgt Ricardo would return to Mirboo North.

“I don’t know when he’ll be back. There’s no fi rm date. The situation is reviewed on a monthly basis,” Sen. Sgt Smith said.

It has meant that Leongatha police are needed to assist in Mirboo North, putting additional strain on them.

The Leongatha station is headed by Sergeant Scott Bodycomb, and is manned by up to six senior constables. At the moment one senior constable is on leave and another on sick leave.

Foster is of similar size to Leongatha with a maximum of six staff, including station sergeant Neil Coates.

Stations, such as Toora, Meeniyan and Loch are manned by a single policeman. Inverloch is headed by Sergeant Da-mian Whitford, with two Senior Constables.

Cowes police station received two more Senior Con-stables in the last six months and two more are expected in coming months, as well as an additional member in San Remo.

“This will have a direct benefi t on the resources in South Gippsland,” Sen. Sgt Smith said. “The benefi t is that we won’t be drawing on South Gippsland’s resources as much, making the area more sustainable.”

Police strain

By Matt Dunn

LEONGATHA Medical Group has changed more than its name in recent times.

The newly-minted Leongatha Health Care will soon lose two expe-rienced doctors, with hopes that two new recruits with 12 month contracts will stay on.

Another doctor who was on a short term contract, Dr Huy Ho, recently left Leongatha for Yarram. Practice manager Debrah Johns will leave on Friday (August 1) and be replaced by Judy Robb.

Like many other rural towns, Le-ongatha has struggled to hold on to its medical staff.

Clinic partner Tim Linton said the pair – Dr Chris Perry, who will take a job with the Royal Flying Doctor Ser-vice (RFDS) in Western Australia, and Dr Kola Orundami, who has also been lured to the west - had been “excellent long term doctors”.

The registrars coming to the practice are Dr Sha Liao and Dr Amina Bezhan.

“We are always on the lookout for new doctors to work in Leongatha, but struggle to fi nd doctors willing to come to stay for more than a training term,” Dr Linton said.

“This will be increasingly diffi cult, until our medical schools produce more graduates. That will not be for fi ve years from now.

“At present, a very large percentage of Victorian doctors are trained overseas. Understandably, these doctors prefer to work in areas where they have family and friends. Generally

Struggle to fi nd new doctors

this means the city and larger towns. “Having said this, we have two new

doctors starting in August who will be in Leongatha for 12 months, and look forward to their contribution.”

Dr Linton said the doctors’ departure will mean that it will be harder for patients to make appointments with long term doctors.

“Everyone naturally wants to fi nd a doctor who they can get to know, and

who will stay in the area. We will do our best to provide continuity of care, and hope that we won’t need to scale back services,” he said.

Despite the hiccup, Dr Linton said he did not believe the long term future of the clinic was in jeopardy.

“We are working hard to make Leongatha a sought after place to work as a doctor. There are exciting things happening within our practice, and we

are planning changes to increase our effi ciency and services provided,” he said.

Retaining doctors in South Gippsland continues to be a problem.

“One diffi cult issue that we face in recruitment is the need to provide an after hours service. Most young doctors are reluctant to commit to a location where they will have signifi cant demands on their time apart

from the normal working hours,” he said.

“A funded emergency department at the hospital would help enormously in this respect. Another concern we have is that of attracting and retaining doctors interested in work like anaesthetics, obstetrics and minor surgery.

“A system where skills can be developed and used well with appropriate supervision and mentoring may be necessary to give young doctors confi dence in these areas. But we all feel that Leongatha is a great place to work, and try to encourage others to enjoy it as well.”

The CEO of Adelaide-based Health and Life Medical, Dental & Allied Health Accounting and Practice Management Solutions, David Dahm, whose company is overseeing the restructure of the business, said recruitment and retention of doctors is at the heart of the issue.

“The clinics need good infrastruc-ture and support services like the local hospital - that’s what it gets down to. Doctors need to have ownership of the practice and a have say, not be dictated to by third parties,” he said.

“There are a lot of people who want to have control in the running of clinics.”

Mr Dahm said that “ultimately practices need to be fi nancially sus-tainable so young doctors will buy in and take a long term view.

“There is a difference between owning your home versus renting it,” he said.