The Bendigo GP Super Clinic stakeholders group will meet before Christmas to formally begin planning the development and delivery of the concept.

The group includes Bendigo Health, Bendigo Community Health, the Bendigo and District Division of General Practice, Victoria Felix Medical Education, the City of Greater Bendigo and Monash University.

Professor Geoff Solarsh, Head of School of the School of Rural Health, said Monash University and its partners had been working for the past year on plans to expand the existing Primary Care Clinic.

“The stakeholders were developing a model for an expanded Primary Care Clinic before the election and are totally committed to the project,” Professor Solarsh said.

“Labor’s Super Clinic concept was a perfect fit and now allows us to proceed with the formal planning and costing process.”

Monash University established the Bendigo Primary Care Clinic in the early 1990s and the stakeholders group was already looking towards a model that integrates general practice, allied health and mental health practitioners, health promotion and expanded teaching facilities.

“The Super Clinic will cater for patients without access to existing general practices, after hours patients, and those who need team based management of chronic illnesses,” Professor Solarsh said.

“It will act as a base for training medical and allied health undergraduates in a truly integrated and collaborative environment.

“The integrated nature of the planned clinic will also be attractive to a new generation of medical practitioners who are looking for a flexible workplace.”

The stakeholders will meet at Lister House tomorrow.