The 17 Medicare Locals in New South Wales are being reduced to nine Primary Health Networks, meaning the New England Medicare Local will join with the Hunter and Central Coast Medicare Locals.

Chief Executive of the New England Medicare Local, Graeme Kershaw, said minimising the impact on the New England North West will be a priority.

“We need to make sure that the people of the New England don’t miss out just because they’re joined up into a larger entity that’s actually around the same size as England - a vast area to cover,” he said.

“There’s a big population down the south end, so we’ve got to make sure people in the north are looked after in whatever the new arrangements are.”

Primary Health Networks will take over from July next year, but there’s been no information yet from the Federal Government outlining the responsibilities of the new organisations.

“Whilst this uncertainty goes on we’re still employing staff, we’re still contracting with private allied health practitioners in the region,” Mr Kershaw said.

“We want to give them some sense of certainty going into next year, so we’re keen to get as much information as we possibly can.

“We’re just waiting on the Department to advise us.”

Mr Kershaw said the reduction in service areas will cause challenges across the state, given the size of some Primary Health Network regions.

He said a practical way of operating needs to be developed, to ensure the services filter down to a local level.

“The New England community is very different to the Upper Hunter community, which is different again to Newcastle and the Central Coast,” he said.

“The GP’s that are in those communities very much identify with their own communities and with their own patients, and if these Primary Health Networks are going to be effective at any level, they need to have good connections with GP’s and nursing staff and allied health in their local area.”