Montville welcomes GP after year without key medical service
IT’S the shot in the arm Montville has been asking for with the town now home to its first medical practice in almost a year.
New owner, Dr Peter Herbert, was born in the UK, but has lived in Montville for 20 years and previously owned successful practices in Buderim and Ascot.
Concerned at the lack of medical services as well as clear demand from locals – not to mention it was the right thing to do – Dr Herbert said he was satisfied that opening a new clinic was the right call.
“This is a nice part of the world, and we’re just trying to do our little bit, it’s sort of a lifestyle choice for me,” he said.
“We are independent, we’re not owned by a corporate franchise.
“We are looking forward to look after the local community and provide all the services that you’d expect.”
He added the service was important for the town “because it’s got so much potential”.
“You’ve got to embrace development, and maintain essential services,” he said.
Dr Herbert said he was excited to not only start providing medical services to Montville again, but also had plans to grow the business.
“We will get other doctors, we are already consulting with two doctors, but I’ll just start it up myself, I’m not too worried about that, but it’s a good start for people to start visiting their local medical practice again,” he said.
The closure of the town’s only medical centre earlier this year played a part in the relocation of the town’s only pharmacy.
“Obviously, the pharmacy next door relocated to Mapleton in July, but we do have other people interested in opening the pharmacy back up so we can fill scripts locally again,” he said. “I would also love to see a physio and a psychologist move in to Montville to further expand our medical services in the town, to keep everything hyperlocal.”
The closure of the medical practice was largely pinned on the lack of incentives available to attract doctors due to the federal government’s Modified Monash Model (MMM) scheme.
This limits incentives available for doctors to work in Montville, as opposed to working in Maleny, which is rated a rural town, despite being 1km away from the latter, with a much larger population.
Dr Herbert is against the MMM rating system, saying incentives should be equal. The new medical practice is on Main Street, opposite the IGA. The practice is open 8am-5pm Monday to Friday, and Saturday mornings.
