The country's largest Aboriginal medical service has been warned its Redfern practice is in danger of ''imploding'' and that its patients will suffer if it goes ahead with a radical shake-up of its staffing.
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After 10 years, the Redfern Aboriginal Medical Service has decided to suspend its relationship with the government agency that supplies it with trainee GPs, arguing the service should not be a training ground for doctors.
As part of a six-month internal review, it also hopes to reduce waiting times and ensure patients can see the same doctor each time they visit.
The Redfern AMS, a community-controlled registered charity funded through government grants, is under investigation by the federal Health Department and is embroiled in an increasingly messy dispute with its staff and parts of the inner-city indigenous community.
After a letter from its chairman, Sol Bellear, was distributed locally last week and posted on the AMS Facebook page, a war of words has erupted with GP Synergy, the sole supplier in Sydney of doctors working to specialise in general practice. The organisation responded publicly, also on Facebook as a ''reply'' to Mr Bellear's letter.
''It's no secret that GP Synergy is sincerely worried about the health and welfare ramifications for the Aboriginal community in Redfern,'' chief executive John Oldfield wrote.
''We also worry that because the AMS Redfern has decided to stop employing and training these doctors, there will be fewer doctors with skills in Aboriginal health into the future.
''At the moment they're losing doctors left, right and centre. They stand a chance of doing significant reputational damage.
''When they [Aboriginal medical services] implode this way, the community is badly affected. The opportunity cost is just dire. Redfern has been one of the stellar AMSs in the country.''
In response Mr Bellear accused GP Synergy of ''bullying''.
Mr Bellear said the AMS was simply conducting a six-month review of its operations.
''There is nothing controversial in that, nor is there any hidden agenda,'' he said. ''GP Synergy's gross misrepresentation of our ongoing training of GPs is a source of substantial concern for the AMS Redfern.''
The AMS says it wants to hire indigenous doctors, but of the 3554 trainee GPs nationwide, just 1 per cent - 34 people - are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders.
