Located at the Daylesford Hospital, the clinic is staffed by Daylesford's general practitioners and will open from 9am to 12pm every Sunday and public holiday except Christmas Day.

It will provide help for patients with non-urgent medical problems within those hours.

Patients with medical emergencies will be able to attend the Emergency Department at Daylesford Hospital.

Unlike some public hospital emergency departments, which are staffed by State Government funded doctors, the Daylesford emergency department is staffed by private GPs who work a 24-hour on-call roster in addition to their other medical responsibilities.

Daylesford GP Dr Greg Malcher said the new clinic would mean patients are better served over the weekend.

He said while many other Victorian towns no longer had weekend or overnight medical cover, Daylesford GPs continued to provide 24-hour access for all residents and visitors.

"However, this is becoming more and more difficult particularly with the recent loss of two Daylesford GPs," he said.

Daylesford GP Dr Jon Barrell said there were only six full-time GPs in town.

"We need to provide a sustainable workload for Daylesford's current doctors," he said.

"Similarly, we need to ensure that Daylesford remains an attractive location for prospective GPs. So we encourage patients with non-urgent problems to utilise the Saturday morning sessions at the two Daylesford general practices, or the new Sunday

morning clinic at Daylesford Hospital."

To use the service, patients can call 5348 2371 after 9am to arrange a time to see the doctor. Health care card holders and DVA card holders will be bulked billed at the clinic.

Funding and running costs of the new medical clinic was made possible by the Federal Government's Investing in After Hours GP Services program as part of the Round the Clock Medicare.