The attendees at the Soldiers Club event held last Tuesday night were keen to find out more, with some local medical specialists even making private inquiries about how they might get involved once it was up and running.

If approved, the 13,000 square metre super clinic will be a onestop- shop for local health. It will feature a Medical Centre with allied health, which will include general practitioners, naturopaths, dieticians, acupuncturists, massage therapists, physiotherapists, speech therapists and pathologists as well as a pathology department and a pharmacy.

There will also be a specialist centre, for dental surgeons, oncologists and gastroenterologist, and there will also be a day surgery and operating theatre.

The plan received its share of criticism, with one local GP raising concerns about the calibre of doctors the facility will attract and what would happen to patients post operation if the centre employed specialists on a “fly-in fly-out” basis.

Developer Wal Ashton responded to these concerns in depth today in a letter to the editor (see page 8) and his daughter/ project director Sophie said these fears were unfounded.

She said all travelling specialists would be on long term contracts and there would be a lot of consultation between doctors about patients’ needs. She also said the centre hoped to firstly employ local health professionals but if they couldn’t she didn’t believe it would be hard to attract good doctors from other areas.

“I have already spoken to a number of friends of mine who are living in Sydney and who are very interested (in working at the Health Hub) because they haven’t been able to establish themselves there…” Ms Ashton said.

“It is very competitive in Sydney. Another reason we think we will be able to attract doctors is that (our facility) is going to be such an innovative, state-of-theart place to work. This isn’t just going to be your average GP clinic, this is going to offer a lot more… 

“A lot of local doctors are also referring people to see doctors in Canberra and Bowral, so, I think if we supplied a place of operation in Goulburn I do think there would be significant work for them to get through. Doctors are looking for work; people in Goulburn are looking to be operated on locally so they can go home to their houses as quickly as possible… 

“Another situation that people are not quite aware of is the fact that in the next two to three we are going to have an influx of doctors coming out of the education system and ready to practice. So, there will be a lot to choose from and Goulburn is not a difficult place to access, compared to other rural towns. There are also benefits to living in a rural town.” 

Mr Ashton hoped his centre would be a place people would want to visit and believed if it was delivered well it could attract a large number of people to the city, simultaneously inspiring economic growth and cutting surgery waiting times