Karen Chijoff and Jackie Kelly welcomed Health Minister Tony Abbott to Colyton on Monday, September 10th. Mr Abbott announced that the Commonwealth Government will be providing up to $600,000 over three years for a new mobile after-hours medical service in Western Sydney.

The service, operated by Family Care Medical Services (FCMS), will make after-hours house calls available for the first time in much of Western Sydney. It will operate overnight and at all other times outside business hours, including public holidays.

After-hours calls to GP practices which subscribe to the service will be switched through to a call centre which will assess patients' needs using a triage system. Patients may be referred to an ambulance service, to existing after-hours clinics at the Windsor and Nepean Hospitals, or to this new service where a doctor on duty will visit the patient's home.

FCMS has long experience providing medical deputising services in south-eastern Queensland and in Northern Sydney.

Karen Chijoff and Jackie Kelly have been lobbying Mr Abbott for this service to be made available to Lindsay residents.

"After-hours house calls will be so much more convenient for families with sick children" Karen Chijoff said, "This is a great win for Western Sydney."

The FCMS service will cover Sydney's north-western and western growth corridors, including Castle Hill, Wilberforce, Blaxland and the Great Western Highway. This is the second fastest growing area in NSW and the population of about 450,000 includes a large number of young families.

Funding will come from the Government's Round the Clock Medicare initative. Since 2005, more than 140 after-hours medical services around Australia have recieved grants of $62.5 million over five years.