The Australian Government's Medicare Urgent Care Clinics will this week achieve an historic milestone with 1 million free visits across the country.
Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are a key part of the Australian Government's reforms to strengthen Medicare to deliver a better, fairer and stronger health system and to deliver cost of living relief.
Clinics are open for extended hours and at weekends, with no appointment needed. Services are fully bulk billed, with no out of pocket costs for patients.
Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are taking the pressure off busy hospital emergency departments. Nearly half the patients say they would have gone to the local emergency department if the Medicare Urgent Care Clinic was not there.
Across Australia, the largest proportion of Medicare Urgent Care Clinic patients have been children. Nearly a third of visits are by children under 15. Some of their most common conditions are upper respiratory tract infections, coughs, otitis media, lacerations, rashes, viruses, fevers and fractures.
Our 87 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics mean 70 per cent of Australians now live no more than a 20-minute drive from fully bulk billed urgent care, available seven days a week.
Doctors are also loving the clinics with a recent poll finding over 70 per cent of GPs support the work of Medicare Urgent Care Clinics and over 80 per cent of GPs think they're having a positive impact on hospital emergency departments.
By the end of the year all 87 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics will be operating, 22 are in New South Wales, 17 in Victoria, 16 in Queensland, 8 in WA, 6 in SA, 8 in NT, 5 in the ACT, and 5 in Tasmania.
Since the national network began in July 2023, NSW has had more than 164,300 visits, QLD has had more than 164,800 visits, Victoria more than 205,800, ACT more than 144,900, WA more than 110,800, SA more than 60,800, TAS more than 55,600, and NT more than 32,900.
Quotes attributable to Minister Butler:
"Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are a game changer. All patients need is their Medicare card, not their credit card.
"Our Medicare Urgent Care Clinics recognised there was a gap in our health system.
"They have now filled that gap meaning patients all around the country, including parents and young kids, now don't have to spend hours waiting in an emergency department for urgent but not life-threatening care.
"We want every Australian to have access to free urgent health care, when they need it, without waiting hours in a busy hospital emergency department.
"Our 87 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics mean 70 per cent of Australians now live no more than a 20-minute drive from fully bulk billed urgent care, available seven days a week. So that wherever you live, urgent care is never far away."
