The clinic, which has been operating in town for more than seven years, has one practicing GP after its second doctor left several months ago. Despite an extensive recruiting campaign during which BCH wrote to all GPs and general practice companies in the region they have been unable to find a replacement.

BCH chief executive Sean Duffy confirmed that after a review of services and the inability to recruit a second GP the decision was made to close the Smythesdale medical clinic on June 30.

Smythesdale resident Lee McGill said she was "disappointed and distressed" to hear the clinic was closing.

"There was no consultation with community or any sort of public notice given to date as to why this has occurred," she said.

"As the township and surrounds are growing it has become vital to retain our medical clinic here.Not only for medical assistance, but the viability of the township is at risk, for example the pharmacy, and other local business that rely on the medical centre and its people."

The closest GP for Smythesdale residents will now be at Delacombe, 13km away, but there is no public transport except for a community bus on a Thursday, raising fears that the elderly and those without transport will be unable to easily access health care.

Mr Duffy said doctor recruitment was an industry problem across Australia.

"It becomes even more complicated for rural towns because we can't place an inexperienced GP in such an environment because they work fairly autonomously," he said.

"We are struggling to recruit GPs even to Ballarat."

Mr Duffy said a single-GP practice was not ideal for the practitioner or good clinical practice, and after a review of Ballarat Community Health's primary care service the difficult decision was made to close Smythesdale and move its GP to one of BCH's other primary care sites.

BCH has assured Smythesdale patients they will offered GP services at BCH's Sebastopol, Lucas or Wendouree clinics if they wish, or BCH will help them transfer to closer Delacombe clinics.

"About half of the people that attend Smythesdale currently are from Smythesdale and half from Ballarat," Mr Duffy said.

BCH has approached other GP companies in the region, and all GPs, to see if they wanted to take over the business. Most companies responded they were already struggling to recruit GPs for their existing practices.

Mr Duffy called for more government support to allow small-town medical clinics to remain viable and in recruiting more GPs.

"Ballarat Community Health is an independent registered community health service that is not subsidised by government. (Closing Smythesdale) is a difficult decision to make but one I needed to make for the sustainability of our organisation long-term," he said.

"There's no incentive for us or any support other than Medicare to run these small rural practices. We would love to see a rural workforce strategy, further incentives for GPs and specialists to work in small towns and some financial incentives so we can attract people."

Ballarat Community Health's allied health services including podiatry and exercise physiology which operate from Smythesdale will remain open.

IN OTHER NEWS

Golden Plains Shire also expressed concern about the loss of the medical practice, saying in a statement that people in Smythesdale and the north of the Golden Plains Shire greatly valued having a local GP clinic.

"Council is very concerned about Ballarat Community Health's decision to close its medical practice in Smythesdale and the impacts this will have on residents in Golden Plains Shire," the statement read.

"Council is committed to facilitation of health services at The Well and will seek a meeting for further dialogue and understanding with Ballarat Community Health to confirm their plan for health services that will continue to be offered."

Smythesdale resident Terry Ferguson said it was unfortunate the town would have two veterinary practices to treat animals, but no GP for its human residents.

"Do our pets well-being mean more than us human beings in this society?" he asked.

If you are seeing this message you are a loyal digital subscriber to The Courier, as we made this story available only to subscribers. Thank you very much for your support and allowing us to continue telling Ballarat's story. We appreciate your support of journalism in our great city.