Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Aged Care. How are Medicare Urgent Care Clinics helping Australians to get urgent health care when they need it, and helping to ease pressure on hospital emergency departments? Why is this important after a decade of cuts and neglect?

Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Blair for his question. He is such a strong advocate for better health care and better aged care in his Ipswich community. And he's a really strong supporter of the Ipswich Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, which has been open for weeks now.

There are now 38 clinics open and operating, with 58 to be opened by the end of this year. They'll be operating seven days a week for extended hours and will be open to walk-in patients who need urgent care for non life-threatening emergencies, either for themselves or their kids.

For example, Billy and his mum went straight to the Ipswich clinic when Billy had a suspected broken wrist from playing basketball. Twelve-year-old Billy was triaged in just five minutes. He was seen shortly after by a doctor, he was then X-rayed, he was treated with a splint and he was then connected for a physio appointment the following week. That was all done within two hours. Melissa, in the member for Lindsay's electorate, took her daughter to the Penrith Medicare Urgent Care Clinic when her daughter sustained a possible ankle fracture from playing soccer. Her daughter was seen, X-rayed, and discharged with a CAM boot in less than one hour. Melissa said, 'Why would anyone go to the emergency department with this sort of injury when the Medicare urgent care clinic can deal with it so quickly?'

It's not just that these appointments are done quickly; importantly, they are completely free of charge. They are fully bulk-billed. All you need to do is take your Medicare card. So far, with the 60,000 occasions of service that have already been delivered, a third of them have been for kids under the age of 15 and a third of them were on the weekend, when often people can't get in to see their usual GP. Of the weekday services, fully one in five were after 6 pm.

These clinics are not just providing high-quality urgent care where and when people need it, completely free of charge. As the member for Blair said, they're also, in a much-needed way, taking pressure off our overcrowded emergency departments. As we know, almost half of presentations every year to our EDs are semi- or non-urgent presentations—so-called category 4s or 5s. It's early days, but we know these clinics are already making a difference. At the Logan Hospital, in the Treasurer's electorate, category 4 and 5 presentations have gone down by 10 per cent since the Logan Medicare Urgent Care Clinic was opened, compared to the July and August average. At Ipswich Hospital there's been a fully 20 per cent reduction in that type of presentation, which is a huge relief of pressure.

This government was elected to strengthen Medicare. We're delivering on that promise, tripling the bulk-billing incentive, delivering cheaper medicines and rolling out a network of Medicare Urgent Care Clinics.