Anew Medicare Urgent Care Clinic will open in Mount Gambier in November in a bid to ease congestion at the city’s hospital emergency department.
The Federal Government is partnering with the State Government to deliver four clinics in SA, with Mount Gambier Family Health (formerly Dr Try Medical Clinic) to be established as the Mount Gambier Medicare UCC.
This followed an expression of interest process earlier this year, with the new Mount Gambier clinic created to make it easier for people in the Limestone Coast to get the urgent treatment they need from highly qualified doctors and nurses while taking pressure off the local hospitals.
The clinic will be open from 8am to 10pm, seven days a week and offer walk-in care that is fully bulkbilled.
No appointment will be necessary and doctors and nurses at the clinics will treat conditions such as sprains, broken bones, stitches for cuts, wound care, minor burns, insect bites and minor ear and eye problems.
The announcement came after revelations that more than 40% of presentations to South Australian hospitals were for non-urgent or semi-urgent care.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the details in Adelaide on Tuesday and said the clinic was expected to start operating next month and delivered on a Federal Government election commitment.
“These clinics mean South Australians who need urgent but not acute care, can get it quickly even if it’s outside standard hours – and all they’ll need is their Medicare card,” he said.
“We’re committed to strengthening Medicare and making it easier and cheaper to get quality healthcare, by tripling the bulk billing incentive and making medicines cheaper.”
Premier Peter Malinauskas welcomed the news, which he said would ease the pressure on local hospitals.
“We know South Australian hospitals, like those across the country, are under significant pressure, and the struggle to get access to GPs is playing a huge part in that,” he said.
“The South Australia Medicare UCCs will help take that pressure off, by providing a service that bridges the gap between the day-to-day health care of general practice and acute care of hospitals.
“With this partnership between the Australian and South Australian governments, we are ensuring South Australians have better access to affordable urgent care when they need it.”
Federal Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler said the clinics would make a big difference to patients who will be able to walk in seven days a week and get free urgent care from a nurse or a doctor.
“The clinics will ease pressure on South Australian hospitals, so that our hard-working doctors and nurses can focus on higher priority emergencies,” he said.
State Minister for Health and Wellbeing Chris Picton said being able to get free care at a UCC for urgent, but not life-threatening concerns, would be welcomed by many families and help to reduce pressure on emergency departments.
“Importantly, centres operating extended hours will be very convenient for families and helpful for the health system more broadly,” he said.
“I thank the Albanese Government for its investments in these centres, as well as its upcoming increase in bulk billing incentives for targeted groups.”
