Media Release: EXPANDED PUBLIC DENTAL SERVICES FOR GOULBURN VALLEY

FROM THE MINISTER FOR AGED CARE, MINISTER FOR ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS

DATE: Tuesday, September 26, 2006

EXPANDED PUBLIC DENTAL SERVICES FOR GOULBURN VALLEY

Aged Care and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Gavin Jennings was in the Goulburn Valley today to open new public dental services at Shepparton and Mooroopna that will allow more residents to get access to free dental care.

Mr Jennings opened a new “one-stop-shop” ambulatory care centre at Goulburn Valley Hospital that includes a 12-chair public dental clinic, trebling the size of the existing service and opening the way for improved waiting times for public patients in the Goulburn Valley.

He also opened a two-chair dental clinic at Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative at Mooroopna that will provide primary dental care for all residents of Rumbalara.

Both initiatives are in partnership with the University of Melbourne’s School of Dental Science and School of Rural Health. The partnership will provide additional dental services in the Goulburn Valley as well as address a shortage of dentists in rural areas.

Based at Goulburn Valley Health in Shepparton, final year dental students will provide services to the wider Goulburn Valley community and the Indigenous community at Rumbalara.

Rural Dental Health program co-ordinator Dr Menaka Abuzar said the program was a Victorian first and would provide services as well as introduce final year students to rural life. The program had the potential to increase the number of dentists practising in country Victoria.

Mr Jennings said the Bracks Government was supporting the construction of the ambulatory care centre at Goulburn Valley Health to the tune of $10 million and had provided $3 million to help establish the Rural Dental Health program in conjunction with the University of Melbourne.

“The Rural Dental Health program will provide dental students with rural experience and so increase the odds that these students, on graduation, will seek employment in rural Victoria,” Mr Jennings said.

Mr Jennings said Goulburn Valley Health is the region’s largest health provider with sites in Shepparton, Tatura and Rushworth. GV Health receives over $92 million a year in State funding.

Opening the new centre at Shepparton with Federal Member for Murray Sharman Stone, Mr Jennings said the “one-stop-shop” was a new innovation in service delivery for Shepparton and district residents.

“Instead of patients having to visit various locations, their health professionals will be in one place,” Mr Jennings said.

The centre will cater for many aged patients and house the rural allied health team, complex care unit, integrated diabetes services, podiatry services, drug and alcohol services, fall and mobility services, wound management and continence services.

Mr Jennings said the Bracks Government contributed more than $10 million to the project’s first stage, and the Commonwealth $4 million. Mr Jennings said the Pratt Foundation contributed $500,000 to the project and Goulburn Valley Health had named it the Visy Cares Centre in honour of the Pratt Foundation’s contribution to local health services.

The project also includes a redeveloped accident and emergency unit, now nearing completion.

Later in Mooroopna Mr Jennings opened a new two-chair clinic at Rumbalara replacing a single-chair dental service in Nixon St Shepparton.

“Rumbalara’s participation in the Dental Science School program enables dental students to gain valuable experience working with Indigenous Australians and within a community-controlled health service.”

“Undergraduates such as dental therapists and hygienists as well as postgraduate students, will benefit from this rural and cross-cultural interaction,” he said.

“By setting up this program in Shepparton-Mooroopna, the Bracks Government is tackling workforce shortages in rural Victoria and improving the recruitment and retention of dental professionals,” Mr Jennings said.

Mr Jennings said the Bracks Government’s commitment to making Victoria a great place to live and raise a family included making sure senior Victorians and those with complex health needs were supported with quality services and facilities.