Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Aged Care, Senator Gallagher. The government has budgeted for national urgent care clinics, with three promised to be established in Tasmania. Is the government going to honour that promise?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Tyrrell for her question and her interest in health and health services in Tasmania. The urgent care clinics are a new model of care which we committed to in the election, and Senator Tyrrell is correct to say that there were three committed to in locations in Tasmania as part of that campaign. The commitments were in Burney, Launceston and Hobart. I understand the Premier of Tasmania has requested that the Burney clinic be in Devonport or the Latrobe region, which was agreed to as well. The very short answer to your question is: yes, they will be delivered. We are working with states and territories on finalising the model, and we'll go through that work, but the money was provided in the budget to deliver on the commitment we made, which was 50 urgent care clinics. Subsequent to making that commitment, New South Wales and Victoria have supplemented and provided funding, I think in the order of $100 million, for clinics in their states, and so we've added in some money on top of the original commitment to work with them to get the model right.

It is an exciting model. I know that here in the ACT it's a different model, but we had nurse-led walk-in centres which provided a bit of the gap between emergency departments and out-of-hours care, particularly for those not needing to head to the hospital. They've been very popular with the local community here, and we think that model can be built upon, but obviously with general practice as key participants.

We will deliver it. We're working with states and territories to refine the model and of course working with general practice across the country to make sure it aligns with their priorities as well.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Tyrrell, a first supplementary question?

Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Given the serious shortages of GPs and nursing staff in Tasmania, how are we going to ensure that these three clinics will be fully staffed and resourced?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Working with the relevant state is a really important part of that, so working on workforce more broadly in the area of health care, which is why I think what works in New South Wales and Victoria will assist in the rollout of the clinics nationally and how that can complement state workforce with what they're doing with what primary care needs. You're right, urgent care clinics on their own are not going to solve some of the issues because of the issues in remote and rural parts of the country. That's why it has to be part of the other commitments we've made, like the investment in the strengthening Medicare fund, where we've got the task force in place working with primary care, essentially rebuilding primary care, which is under so much strain. We're looking at the role delineation within primary care, so nurse practitioners and the work they do, and the announcement around meeting the HECS debts for health practitioners to work in the region is also part of it. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Tyrrell, a second supplementary question?

Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A serious question now: when are we going to get them?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We've committed to them over the first term. In fact, we've profiled the money in this financial year, so the intention is to get them up and running as soon as possible. Working with the jurisdictions and with primary care, it might be that there are different starts in different jurisdictions as they get rolled out. We completely understand that this support needs to flow, but it's not something the federal government can do on its own. The money is there; it's profiled in that first year. We're going to work in partnership with those jurisdictions that want us to. And obviously those other investments, like the one to support staff that I talked about starting January this year, the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce, is in place. And the grants going to GPs—the $220 million worth of grants to help them accommodate their workload—is also funded in the budget.