We were handed another red herring, with promises of the Cohealth report being released and yet another last-minute backpedal.
A long-awaited summary of the Cohealth review has been blocked just minutes before its scheduled release, reigniting community anger over transparency at the embattled service.
The delay comes just a week after Cohealth was handed another $1.5 million lifeline, with some stakeholders expecting to see the report summary and recommendations today.
Shortly before the intended release time, we received an email saying the release had been blocked. The unanswered question was: by whom?
Community advocates have accused Cohealth of blocking the release.
TMR attempted to contact Cohealth after hearing about the blocked release but received no response.
However, in a conversation earlier in the day, the Cohealth spokesperson insisted: “The actual decision for release is government’s.”
It’s certainly been a discussion point between the two. In a Cohealth community meeting yesterday, community members made their thoughts known to the Cohealth board and staff members.
“We heard last night that it’s important to them to see the report and the findings and the recommendations to go forward. So we are in conversations with government about the importance of that,” the Cohealth spokesperson said.
What is known is that the review contains 13 recommendations, directed at the federal government, state government and Cohealth.
Cohealth says it supports most of the recommendations and is already working on its own reforms.
“They are forward focused and they are to the terms of reference and to the intent of the review was to keep those services going,” the spokesperson said.
Some recommendations are believed to be how Cohealth will be run into the future, including its model of care and governance, which is why they went to community last night.
“Starting that process of that codesign to get that model of care right, owning it and saying, yep, we do need to make changes … That was part of why we’re starting with community. That’s the most important thing,” she said.
“The other thing is we’re going to work with the GPs and the staff, because if the model of care has to change to a multidisciplinary model to make it more sustainable, how are we going to make that work?” she said.
But Cohealth argues internal reform will not be enough without a longer-term funding solution. The spokesperson said Cohealth was in ongoing discussions with government about what reform could look like from a government perspective.
“Because while the $1.5 million they put forward was from the federal government, we had to co-contribute $1.5 million as well. That will really only keep the lights on for 12 months.
“We’ll look to change the model of care. We’ll look to do things that we can do, but there’s still going to be a funding gap. That was part of the argument eight months ago at the start, when we went to government and said we can’t fund these services,” she said.
RACGP Victorian chair Dr Anita Munoz said the situation exposed a stark contrast in federal priorities, pointing to this week’s $25.3 million Budget commitment for six new fully bulk-billed clinics in NSW.
“[The health minister has] made an announcement that he’s willing to spend $25 million on new bulk billing clinics [in NSW], but will not commit to making sure that Cohealth will be able to continue to serve its community indefinitely.
“It tells me that health is heavily politicised, because of that $25 million. $3 million is all that’s required to save Cohealth.
“So why would the government want to create new bulk billing clinics, particularly in areas where they’re going into direct competition with mum and dad private general practice, [when] it’s comfortable to let Cohealth flounder?” she asked.
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For community advocates, the blocked release has reinforced their view that Cohealth’s leadership cannot oversee its own reform.
Save our Community Health advocate Dr Stephen Alomes said the sudden blocking of the release was shocking yet typical.
“This sudden blocking just a few minutes before the scheduled release confirms that there must be immediate action taken to dismiss the senior managers, to appoint an Administrator and remove the Board,” he said.
At a community meeting at Fitzroy Town Hall last night, four motions demanded key actions including the dismissal of senior management and the Board and the immediate release of the full report.
The central theme of the meeting was the distrust in the Cohealth administration as capable of reforming itself and returning to the principles of community health rooted in the community.
The Cohealth spokesperson said there is already a lot of rejuvenation at the executive level with the resignation of CEO Nicole Bartholomeusz and a number of board director vacancies.
“Effectively, it’s basically a new executive team that will be running the organisation,” she said.
But with the review still under wraps, community advocates are unlikely to be reassured by promises of internal renewal.
For them, the question is no longer whether Cohealth needs reform. It is whether Cohealth can be trusted to reform itself.
