THERE are fears the GP Access After Hours service at Toronto will be forced to close.
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The federal government has yet to commit funding to the service, and no mention of it was made in the Budget.
The service provides over-the-phone medical advice, and arranges appointments for patients at one of five Hunter clinics, including at Westlakes Community Health Centre in Toronto.
The call centre co-ordinates after-hours GP care involving more than 240 GPs.
Hunter Medicare Local chairman Trent Watson said about 50,000 patients a year would be forced into overcrowded hospital emergency departments if the funding is not forthcoming.
"With no funding guaranteed past June 30, the board of Hunter Medicare Local has no option but to begin wind up plans for the closure of the GP Access After Hours service," Mr Watson said.
He said the closure would have a "devastating effect" on the almost 100 nursing and administrative staff and 240 GPs who work for the service.
Labor's federal Member for Charlton, Pat Conroy, praised the effectiveness and value of the after-hours service in parliament on Thursday.
"From a public policy point of view, it does not get more efficient than this," he said of the service. "I have had personal experience of [the service] through assistance to my wife, to my daughter and to my mother-in-law.
"This service must receive funding certainty if we are to provide the best possible health care to the residents of the Hunter."
Health Minister Sussan Ley said her department was working with Hunter Medical Local to ensure GP Access transitions to the new Hunter New England Primary Health Network.
She said $98.8 million had been committed in the Budget to after-hours services, and Labor's claims were a "scare tactic".