Many medical centre waiting rooms across Wyndham are empty, with patients staying away for fear of how the federal budget will affect them, according to a group of practice managers.
While the federal budget has not yet been passed, four practice managers in the city estimated their patient numbers had already fallen by more than 10 per cent.
Linda McColl, of Wyndham Health Care in Werribee, Leanne Puopolo, of Wyndhamvale Health Care in Wyndham Vale, Leigh Stevenson, of the Derrimut Road Health Clinic in Tarneit and Michelle Bailey, of the Tarneit Road Health Clinic in Werribee, said patients were worried that they would no longer be able to afford a visit to the doctor.
All of the clinics are bulk billing, but they said the $7 co-payment put forward in the federal budget was already scaring people away.
“I’ve had patients say to me ‘I can’t afford to go to the doctor’,” Ms McColl said.
“They say they can’t afford milk or bread, so how can they afford something that they view as non-essential.”
Ms Bailey said her clinic had been bombarded with questions about how much their appointments would now cost.
“We’re getting a lot of patients asking questions about the $7 co-payment so we’ve had to put up a sign saying that it’s not happening yet,” Ms Bailey said.
“It’s going to hurt the community of Wyndham for sure.”
All four women said they were in the process of creating a petition against the co-payment, which they would present to the federal government.
