ForHealth Group, the largest bulk-billing General Practice provider in Australia serving more than 8 million patient visits annually commends the $664m Government commitment for 50 new Medicare Urgent Care Clinics throughout Australia.
This commitment builds on the existing 87 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics and will result in an estimated 80 per cent of Australians living within 20 minutes of a clinic.
ForHealth also welcomes Opposition support for existing Medicare Urgent Care Clinics and new clinics in Sorell, Cairns, Maitland and Reid, with further announcements in due course.
ForHealth CEO Andrew Cohen said:
"As the largest provider of Medicare Urgent Care Clinics we see the impact and success of these clinics in their respective communities, delivering bulk-billed access for urgent issues that cannot wait for an appointment, 7 days of the week, and most until 10pm.
We know that 9-out-10 patients will return to the clinic and on average they rate the service 4.5-out-of-5, which is very high for a public funded health service.
When surveyed, more than half of our patients say they would have otherwise presented to the local ED, alleviating crowded public hospitals, and avoiding an average $716 in taxpayer costs for a non-admitted ED patient" [1].
ForHealth Clinical Director Dr Carolyn Roesler said:
"I work in Urgent Care in Elizabeth, South Australia, a lowest decile socioeconomic community. I am also on the Board of the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network (NAHLAN) which overseas hospitals and community health in the area.
In this role I am acutely aware of the dire need to manage over-capacity at local hospitals. It is critical there are strong hospital avoidance pathways such as Urgent Care to support the community.
On average my patients commence care within 30 minutes. The relief and delight when a patient can avoid the ED and we can help them 'in the moment' is clear in their feedback.
Urgent Care Clinics are an accepted and established part of comparable health systems, including New Zealand, the UK, the US; and now Australia".
