Wellington District Hospital due to a lack of doctors available to service could end up in its closure prior to proposed health reform changes’ impact.

Wellington Health Council chair Brandon Wilson has stated that there is a severe shortage of doctors in the town.

Media had stated that the local facility was facing a danger of closing under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s proposed pay-for-service health model. Rudd however said the claim was untrue.

Senior health clinicians had made claims that because Wellington had fewer procedures, a decline could be seen in the allocation of funds to them.

However, Wilson believes that the community should be worried about lack of GPs as at least two years could be taken before the new Federal initiative would come to fruition.

Wilson said, “If we don’t have enough GPs to service the hospital, that is more likely to cause us to lose it other than restructuring.”

Meanwhile, Mayor Anne Jones said she would make every attempt to keep the hospital open if it faced the danger of being closed.