The Board of Mackellar Care Services Limited and Alan Hayes, Liquidator of Gunnedah Rural Health Services Limited have announced that the sale of the Gunnedah Rural Health Centre has been completed.
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Mackellar Care’s chief executive officer, Sandra Strong, said all of the paperwork was signed-off by Friday night and the keys were handed over on Monday.
“The board of Mackellar Care are pleased that the transaction has been completed and the organisation can focus on getting the GP Super Clinic re-operational,” board chair John Perkins said.
“There is a lot of work that we still need to undertake to be fully operational and attending to patient’s needs. To mark the new beginning of the GP Super Clinic the centre will be re-branded as the Mackellar Rural Health Centre.”
The health centre is situated on land owned by Hunter New England Health and the building was constructed with funds from the Federal Government through the GP Super Clinic program, donations from local mines and fundraising from the community.
Gunnedah Rural Health Centre Limited went into administration in July 2017 after the expense of providing GPs on locum became unsustainable. Hunter New England Health fully subsidised the rental charges for the previous provider and have made the same undertaking to Mackellar Care.
“Mackellar Care is focused on the Rural Health Centre being operational as soon as possible,” Mrs Strong said.
“Due to the delays in finalising the transfer and the fast-approaching Christmas period, we do not have a definitive re-opening date. We are trying to re-open before Christmas but this will be dependent upon securing the number of doctors to provide an ongoing, reliable service to the community.
“We have a lot of planning to undertake in the upcoming weeks to ensure that we provide a professional and customer service focused approach to our future patients.”
Mr Hayes said he was pleased a “community-focused local entity” had purchased the centre.
“The facilities at the Rural Health Centre are exceptional and we are thrilled we were able to get an outcome from which the community will benefit,” he said.
“The delays in finalising this transaction have been frustrating and whilst employees will receive 100 cents in the dollar, other creditors will unfortunately receive circa 80 cents in the dollar, a lesser sum than previously forecast.”
