Doctors practising in the Wattle Range area will now be top priority for highly sought after childcare spots.
At the Wattle Range Council meeting this month, councillors voted to review the admission criteria for childcare at the Gladys Smith Early Learning Centre to give priority for admission to children of medical doctors working in the Wattle Range Council area.
The childcare centre, which is owned and run by the council, currently has a waiting list of 78 children.
Councillor David Walshaw moved the motion in an effort to attract more doctors to the region.
He said other centres in Mount Gambier already have the policy.
“We are in a competitive marketplace to attract and retain doctors, so as a grab-bag, these are things we need to look into,“ he said
It was important the council offer incentives for the doctors to come to the area, he said.
“The absence of doctors in Millicent is going to become the determinant for health outcomes in Millicent,“ he said.
“I think medical services are the most important bits of social fabric in a community.
“We need to have the ability to bring people in, because if they come here and it’s not up to scratch they won’t stay.“
The original motion was that council reviews the admission criteria for childcare at the Gladys Smith Early Learning Centre for essential services workers to give priority for admission to children of doctors, nurses, teachers, police officers, paramedics and allied health personnel, but after discussion the motion was amended.
Councillor Deb Agnew raised concerns for other parents looking to get their children into the childcare centre.
“This is a really complex issue,“ she said.
“I am not sure I can support it because I know families who use the childcare centre, and I don’t want anyone bumped off.
“Everyone has a right to work and wants to work.
“I don’t want to say someone is more important than someone else.“
Councillor Agnew and Councillor Sharon Cox voted against the motion.
Speaking outside of the meeting, chief executive Ben Gower said council was exploring “lots of options“ to attract medical staff.
“We’ve been exploring all sorts of different ways to try and help attract and retain GPs to the area and this was one of those many ideas that sort of bubbled up that made sense,“ he said.
“I think it was a logical amendment to the decision to limit it to GPs, because there’s a fair bit of feedback from the community that other essential services, didn’t want to get displaced either – it was teachers, nurses, police, it was all sorts of essential roles, but it really is the GPs that we want to target most.“
