The Australian Government is delivering a further seven Medicare Urgent Care Clinics (Medicare UCCs) to give more Victorians access to high quality and free walk-in health care.
There are now 75 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics open across Australia, which have already seen more than 700,000 presentations since the first sites opened in June 2023, including over 153,000 presentations to Victorian Medicare Urgent Care Clinics.
Following consultation with the Victorian Government, seven existing state-funded Priority Primary Care Centres will transition to the Albanese Government's Medicare Urgent Care Clinic network.
The new Victorian Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are located in Bendigo, Dandenong, Epping, Glen Waverley, Maribyrnong, Maroondah and Melton.
In the 2024-25 Budget, the Albanese Government provided $227 million to expand the Medicare Urgent Care Clinic program.
The new Victorian Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are open over extended hours, seven days a week, with no appointment needed, and importantly all patients are fully bulk billed.
This will take pressure off local hospitals, including Bendigo Hospital, Dandenong Hospital, Footscray Hospital, Northern Hospital Epping, Monash Medical Centre, Maroondah Hospital and Sunshine Hospital.
Over 40 per cent of presentations to Medicare Urgent Care Clinics in Victoria have been outside standard business hours, which means the clinics are filling an important gap in services across extended hours and over the weekend.
And with one in four visits treating a young person under 15, Victorian Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are giving families timely health care and peace of mind.
Quotes attributable to Minister Butler:
"Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are a game changer, and now even more Victorians will get the benefit of timely, free urgent health care on their doorstep.
"These clinics are a key part of the government's commitment to strengthen Medicare and make health care more accessible and affordable.
"Medicare UCCs are keeping people out of emergency waiting rooms and delivering high quality health care - at no cost to patients - across extended hours and every day of the week."
