Weekly roundup of the business of general practice

The ACCC ruled on 9 October that Bupa may buy Partnered Health, the 71-clinic GP, allied health and occupational health group it agreed in June to buy from Quadrant Private Equity for a reported $450 million. The ACCC found the combined share of GP facilities low in every local area where both operate. Bupa's June announcement also made the deal subject to foreign investment approval. A health insurer that already operates GP clinics can now add a national medical centre group without a competition hurdle.

BGH Capital has hired bankers to sell ForHealth, the medical centre network it bought in 2020 for about $500 million, and is seeking about $1 billion, the AFR reported on 8 October. If it sells near that price, owners selling to corporate groups will have a recent price for a large GP network to negotiate against.

Murraylands Medical Centre, the only general practice in Tailem Bend, South Australia, closed on 14 October after the local health network and council found no provider to take it on. The owner had cited GP recruitment and financial sustainability, and the network had earlier cleared the clinic's debt and cut its rent. Owners of a town's only practice can face closure rather than sale when no GP will take it on.

Rural Australians received $1,218 less health funding per person than city residents in 2024-25, $9.23 billion in all, the National Rural Health Alliance reported on 13 October. Medicare spending ran to $1,238 a person in MM1 areas and $728 in the most remote, 40% less, despite rural bulk billing loadings. The figures predate the 2025-26 bulk billing incentive changes. Practices in MM5 to MM7 towns bill against a much smaller Medicare base.

New South Wales

• Penrith, an accredited medical centre. $75,000. BusinessForSale
• Western Sydney, a medical centre with a dental surgery. $6,200,000 plus stock. SEEK Business
• Albury, an established medical clinic in a DPA and MMM2 area. $375,000. SEEK Business

Victoria

• Rowville, a long-established practice, AGPAL accredited. SEEK Business
• Albert Park, inner Melbourne, a long-established general practice. $370,000 plus stock. SEEK Business
• Melbourne's inner east, an accredited medical centre. $545,000. SEEK Business
• Dandenong, an established, fully fitted medical centre. AnyBusiness

Queensland

• Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, a mixed-billing medical practice. $299,000. BusinessForSale AnyBusiness
• Bargara, a family medical centre. BusinessForSale
• Toowoomba, a GP clinic with freehold. SEEK Business
• Hillcrest, in Brisbane's south, a GP practice with the property included. SEEK Business
• Bowen, a medical centre under management in a DPA and MM4 area. $1,500,000. SEEK Business

South Australia

• Elizabeth North, a long-established surgery with a retiring doctor and an established patient list. BusinessForSale

Allied health

• Liverpool, in western Sydney, a dental clinic sold with a medical centre. $1,000,000. BusinessForSale

No new GP practice opened in the past two weeks.

The GP openings monitor carries the full index: 35 independent practices and 11 group-operator sites tracked since early August, with confirmed opening dates where practices publish them.