Funding lifeline for cohealth clinics, but management concerns remain unresolved

The federal government has pledged a further $1.5 million to help keep cohealth’s general practice services operating in Collingwood, Fitzroy and Kensington for another year.

However, while the funding has offered a welcome reprieve for vulnerable patients, it has done little to quiet growing concern about the organisation’s leadership and governance.

The funding announcement is good news for community health in Melbourne’s inner city, where cohealth’s clinics play an important role supporting people with complex health and social needs. But it comes with strings attached.

The new Commonwealth support, together with a matching $1.5 million contribution from cohealth, is tied to the organisation making changes in response to an independent review into its GP services, finances, governance and management. That review has not been made public, leaving the community largely in the dark about its findings and the reforms now expected.

In a statement, cohealth said the review had provided “a clear pathway” to strengthen care into the future and support a transition towards a “more sustainable, future-focused model of care while maintaining continuity of services”.

Board chair Sam Sondhi said the organisation’s immediate focus was on keeping services open while working with patients, staff and the community to shape what comes next.

This reflects our longstanding advocacy for better funding and policy arrangements that better support people with complex health and social needs, he said.

“As the review found, change is needed to help build a more sustainable future for these services.”

Cohealth also acknowledged that the review had identified areas where it “needs to do better”, including governance, leadership and management, although it said the board did not support all of the findings in those areas.

That caveat is unlikely to reassure critics.

Community concern around cohealth has been building for months, particularly since the organisation first flagged plans late last year to close its GP services in Fitzroy, Collingwood and Kensington. Although the clinics have now been granted another 12 months of life, campaigners say serious questions remain about how cohealth has handled the crisis and whether the same leadership team should be trusted to oversee the next phase.

Save Our Community Health, one of the most vocal advocacy groups in the campaign, has been sharply critical of management and recently called for the dismissal of senior leadership.

The group argues that community trust has been badly damaged by decisions already made during the review period, including cuts to counselling and pharmacy services, as well as what it sees as poor communication with patients and staff.

“We call on the Victorian Minister of Health to use her powers to dismiss the cohealth board immediately,” the organisation said in a press release. “While we are hoping that services in Kensington, Fitzroy and Collingwood will remain, we are angry and anxious.”

“We want to know the full facts from the review. Not an abridged version," the group stated, adding that it had “no confidence in the board and the senior management” and was worried about “about their financial mismanagement”.

“We demand a new governance structure that is open, transparent, collaborative and accountable.”

The issue has also been complicated by instability at board level. As previously reported by sibling publication CBD News, former Scope chief executive Kate MacRae was appointed chair earlier this year to help steady the organisation through the review. But she has already since left the role, citing personal reasons, adding another layer of uncertainty at a sensitive time.

For now, the funding extension means cohealth’s inner-city clinics will remain open while consultation begins on what the organisation describes as a stronger multidisciplinary model of care. That is an important outcome for local communities who rely on the services. But the bigger questions have not gone away.

Without the review being released publicly, patients and advocates are being asked to trust a reform process they cannot fully see, led by an organisation whose management remains under heavy scrutiny. The funding may have bought time, but it has not yet restored confidence. •