Almost 15,000 people have received free urgent care at the Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic since it opened its doors in December 2023.
Federal Member for Gilmore Fiona Phillips said she was excited to see expanded hours introduced at the Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic by the end of this year, and a new federally-funded Medicare Urgent Care Clinic opened at Nowra in the next financial year.
“The Batemans Bay clinic is already taking pressure off local doctors and the hospital emergency department,” Mrs Phillips said.
“And the longer opening hours, from 6am until midnight, will ensure people living in and around Batemans Bay have access to fully bulk-billed urgent care with no appointment needed.”
More than 1.5 million Australians have already received free, urgent care at Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, without waiting hours in a busy hospital emergency department.
The Albanese Labor Government will open another 50 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, including a clinic at Nowra.
“I know how busy the ED at Shoalhaven District Memorial Hospital is, and the people of Nowra have told me how much they need access to a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic,” Mrs Phillips said.
“I’m excited to be delivering this seven-day-a-week service in Nowra, because it means locals can avoid an unnecessary trip to hospital.
“The Nowra Medicare Urgent Care Clinic will take so much pressure off Shoalhaven hospital which saw over 23,000 non-urgent and semi-urgent presentations in 2023-24.”
An interim report of the evaluation of Medicare Urgent Care Clinics found that nearly half of all patients who attended a clinic would have gone to the hospital emergency department if the Urgent Care Clinic wasn’t available.
The report found the average hospital visit costs $616 to deliver – more than double the $246 that the average Urgent Care Clinic visit costs.
Photo: Federal Member for Gilmore Fiona Phillips is excited to see expanded hours at the Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic and a new, federally-funded Medicare Urgent Care Clinic in Nowra.
