Doctors raise concerns about Yackandandah Health deal with Apollo

Tess Goodwin is one of five general practitioners based at a clinic which is part of Yackandandah Health's campus which also is home to an aged care complex and childcare centre.

Yackandandah Health announced in May 2023 it had signed a deed of transition for national organisation Apollo Care to take control of its assets.

Speaking on June 8, 2023, Dr Goodwin criticised the approach.

"I have serious concerns about this deeply flawed process that has not consulted with doctors or the community along the way," Dr Goodwin said.

"Our board has only been engaging with the federal government representative and the vested interest that wants to acquire the place and there has been no consultation with us.

"Until your Border Mail article came up on Tuesday last week I didn't know who they were talking to, that it was Apollo."

Dr Goodwin's comments follow a public meeting of more than 200 people at Yackandandah on Wednesday June 7, 2023 to discuss the fate of the health service.

A motion was passed calling for federal intervention to allow an alternative fate for Yackandandah Health to be examined

It read: "The community urgently requests the federal government to extend the SAF funding period for up to 180 days to explore a plan B option."

SAF refers to structural adjustment fund, a federal government kitty which runs until June 30 and provides support to aged care providers exiting the sector through an ownership change.

Yackandandah Health chair Doug Westland, who was an apology for Wednesday's meeting, rejected the push for any alternative.

"We are aware of alternative proposals being promoted by some members of the community but we do not consider these to be realistic or in the interests of our 75 residents, the families we serve and the wider community," Mr Westland said.

"Residential aged care makes up about 80 per cent of our business and we have a special obligation to our elderly residents.

"Unfortunately residential aged care is increasingly challenged and complex and, in our view, community ownership is no longer an appropriate model for it."

A meeting is set for June 21 for Yackandandah Health members to vote to approve the deal with Apollo.

Mr Westland said the vote was "set in stone" and would need to proceed then to meet corporate law requirements.

Asked about Dr Goodwin's concerns about the process, Mr Westland replied "no comment".

Some Yackandandah citizens have also raised their concerns with Indi MP Helen Haines who wrote a letter to federal Aged Care Minister Anika Wells last Friday.

Dr Haines asked that Yackandandah Health be given an extension until the end of the year to make a decision on its future ownership.

Indigo Valley resident Diane Shepheard said organisers of Wednesday night's forum would seek Dr Haines' help to meet with Ms Wells.

Ms Shepheard said an overriding concern from residents was what would happen if the vote opposed an Apollo takeover.

Mr Westland on June 8, 2023, repeated his view that rejecting the deal would be "dire" given the financial state of Yackandandah Health.

"If we do not win member approval at the special meeting then Yackandandah Health faces a highly uncertain future," he said.

"In that case members would be failing their obligation to aged care residents, families and the Yackandandah community."

Dr Goodwin said the process had not allowed the GPs to determine whether Apollo had the capability to run a general practice.

She has sought legal and accounting advice as well input from the Rural Doctors Association of Australia about models for community control of the clinic.

Dr Goodwin and her medic colleagues, Simon Davis, David Oliver, Jane Gardner and Emma Polkinghorne, in a joint statement, queried the government's system.

"We are unable to know if the bidding process sought applications from organisations with an understanding of rural general practice," it read. "We want the federal government to delay this decision by six months to allow proper process."

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