The Albanese Government is delivering on its commitment to residents of the South Coast with a provider for the Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic (Medicare UCC) selected, following an Expression of Interest process.
ForHealth will establish the Medicare UCC to support the Batemans Bay community and will start seeing patients in early December 2023.
The Batemans Bay Medicare UCC will deliver on the Albanese Government’s commitment to make it easier for people in NSW to get the urgent treatment they need – from highly qualified doctors and nurses – while taking pressure off the Batemans Bay Hospital.
The Batemans Bay UCC will operate at the site of the Batemans Bay Hospital.
The new UCC will operate independently from the Batemans Bay ED, which will alleviate pressure on the hospital.
The Medicare UCC will be open for extended hours, 7 days a week, and offer walk-in care that is fully bulk billed.
Over 55 per cent of presentations to the Batemans Bay Hospital are for non-urgent or semi-urgent care.
The Batemans Bay clinic is one of the 14 Medicare UCCs that are being established by the Albanese Government across NSW.
The Australian Government will continue to work closely with Primary Health Networks and the NSW Government to deliver the remaining Medicare UCCs, all of which will open this year.
Quotes attributable to Minister Butler:
“The Batemans Bay Medicare UCC is going to make a big difference to patients across the South Coast.
“Patients will be able to walk in, see a doctor or nurse and access imaging and pathology services.
“The clinic will ease pressure on the Batemans Bay Hospital, allowing them to concentrate on higher priority emergencies.
Quotes attributable to Fiona Phillips MP:
“The new Batemans Bay Medicare UCC will provide an alternative option for families needing urgent care from a doctor or nurse. They will treat sprains and broken bones, cuts, wounds, insect bites, minor ear and eye problems, minor burns and other non-life-threatening issues.
“This will ease pressure on our local ED and be much more convenient for our community, the centre will be completely bulk-billed meaning that people needing urgent but non-life-threatening care will save on out-of-pocket costs.
“55 percent of the current presentations to the Batemans Bay ED are non-life-threatening or semi-urgent, which the new UCC can now handle. This will help alleviate pressure on the ED whilst ensuring people can get the urgent professional care they need.
