Better Medical Welcomes Victorian Clinics to Its Group

Better Medical has continued its growth journey to welcome its first Victorian clinics to the group.

Northern Bay Health is a network of three general practices and a diabetes clinic operating across Geelong's northern suburbs. The main centre, Corio Medical Clinic, was established 40 years ago and is located in Corio. It is co-located with the diabetes clinic, pathology, and pharmacy. Two smaller branch clinics operate nearby; Plantation Medical Clinic is also in Corio and Bell Post Medical Centre in Norlane. The clinics also provide medical care to students at Geelong Grammar and the local community with Allied Health professionals, including a podiatrist, physio, dietician, exercise physiologist, and speech therapist.

Northern Bay Health has been owned by Dr Mark Kennedy, Dr Jacob Mathai, and Dr Bryan Johnston for a number of years. All three will continue working with Better Medical, and Dr Kennedy, the principal owner, is excited to join the group.

“After managing several medical clinics over the past 30 years, I have found that many of the management responsibilities have increasingly become somewhat of an administrative burden and distraction from the clinical work. The opportunity to join Better Medical and receive administrative and management support will allow me to re-focus on the clinical aspect of my work, which is exciting,” says Dr Kennedy.

“Better Medical has a strong ethos of preserving the culture of practices rather than altering them to fit a particular model, which has been very attractive. Honestly, when we first considered selling our practices, we spoke to a number of businesses, and these discussions were enough to convince me that the fit wasn’t right. Better Medical is the only business we talked to a second time. From the outset, the Better Medical model was the only appealing one for us; if we didn’t join Better Medical, we wouldn’t have sold to any group.

“The Northern Bay Health culture is very important to us. We have a great team who provides a wonderful service to the community. We’re confident that this will continue under Better Medical. The additional administrative support will only allow things to continue to improve as we focus more on clinical care and education.

“Over many years, we’ve had a strong focus on teaching medical students and Allied Health professionals. We’re pleased that this CPD and Registrar support will continue through Better Medical’s strong commitment in these areas. This was certainly an important factor in our decision-making.

“We’re pleased to be the first Victorian clinics to join Better Medical, and we hope our solid reputation in the state can help the business to further expand,” says Dr Kennedy.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Better Medical has continued to establish itself as one of Australia’s premium primary healthcare providers. The acquisition of Northern Bay Health increases Better Medical’s ownership to 35 clinics across South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania, and now Victoria.