Networking Health NSW will cease operations tomorrow, 1 October 2015.
The organisation under its former rubric, General Practice NSW, had provided State based support for NSW Divisions of General Practice since the inception of Divisions in the early 90s. Under the Labor government's Medical Locals, support organisations at both the State and Federal level were abolished. GP NSW had thus been operating on its accumulated funds, members fees and specific project funding since June 2011. The decision to defund State Based Organisations (SBOs) was not reversed by the Abbott coalition government following its election victory in September 2013.
GP NSW had been able to maintain limited operations over the last four years but the dwindling reserves forced the Board to recommend winding up the organisation. Fees for financial year 2016 are being returned to member organisations, mostly NSW based PHNs, and any residual funds will be distributed to not for profit organisation(s) with similar objectives to Networking Health NSW, as is standard practice.
