Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Health, Senator Gallagher. Minister, during the election campaign Labor committed to opening 50 Medicare urgent-care clinics across Australia. With these urgent-care clinics now being opened across the country, including, yesterday, a new Gold Coast clinic, could the minister please update the Senate on how many clinics have been opened across the country and how many people are using the centres and give any examples of how these Medicare urgent-care clinics are helping Australian families to access urgent care when they need it?

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

I thank Senator Green for that excellent question about Medicare urgent-care clinics and how they are being rolled out across the country. I will update the chamber to let them know that there are 37 Medicare urgent-care clinics now open, including the Gold Coast Medicare urgent-care clinic, which opened yesterday. This is part of our commitment to roll out 58 urgent-care clinics right around Australia. The aim of these clinics is to make it easier for people to get the healthcare treatment they need from highly qualified health staff in a convenient and accessible way through these urgent-care clinics. They are designed to take pressure off the emergency departments, which all of us know are under extreme pressure at the moment, particularly with spring illnesses and things like that, and also to ensure that health care across Australia remains convenient and accessible through extended hours—seven-days-a-week, fully bulk billed or free-of-charge consultations. In just the months since these clinics have been opening around the country, there have been more than 60,000 presentations to Medicare urgent-care clinics. That's 60,000 presentations that either wouldn't have been seen or would have had long waits in the emergency department.

One of those patients—and I'm sure Senator Ruston will be pleased with this, because it's about a patient who attended a Medicare urgent-care clinic in Elizabeth, South Australia—arrived at the urgent-care clinic at 5.30 pm. He was triaged by a nurse within three minutes and seen by a doctor within 11 minutes. He left the urgent-care clinic at 6.02, just half an hour after he presented with what would have been a category 5 presentation and would have expected a long wait for treatment in an emergency department. (Time expired)

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

Senator Green, a first supplementary?

Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Urgent-care clinics is a new model of care being introduced to Australia. Why does the government consider it important to explore new approaches to health service delivery? And how do urgent-care clinics complement other steps the government is taking to strengthen Medicare?

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

The Manager of Opposition Business said, 'So what?' about one of her constituents being able to be seen, treated and discharged within half an hour of presenting at the Elizabeth urgent care clinic. I think that sums up everything we already knew about the opposition. We know they haven't seen a Medicare item they don't want to slash. They haven't seen a primary care budget they haven't wanted to put a GP tax on—remember that? Well, this government is different. We are big supporters of Medicare. We invest in Medicare.

It is a new model of care, despite what those opposite are shouting, and it is targeted to low-acuity, out-of-hours care for Australians who might otherwise have a long wait in an emergency department. We know nearly a third of the patients being seen by urgent care clinics have been under 15 years of age. Nearly a third have visited on the weekend, and on weekdays more than one in five have taken place after six o'clock. (Time expired)

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

Senator Green, second supplementary?

Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, one of the aims of opening Medicare urgent care clinics is to help ease the pressure on busy emergency departments across the country. This is yet another example of how the government is working for Australians while the opposition continues to provide no solutions. Why is this important, and what policies have previous governments implemented to address these challenges?

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

I thank Senator Green for that question. One of the big differences between the former government and ours is we want to work with states and territories to deal with and support the work that they do across the health system through their primary responsibility, hospital led care, and through how the primary care system works. We work with them, we cooperate with them, and we are happy to partner with them to make sure that Australians get access to the best type of health care in the most convenient and affordable way possible. That is what urgent care clinics do. That's why you're all so quiet now: because you know they are very popular and they're delivering exactly what we set out to do.

It is in stark contrast to the approach taken by those opposite. We remember it was in Mr Dutton's days as the health minister—remember he was voted, I think, the 'worst health minister in the country'—when he cut $200 million from a national partnership in public hospital services that was explicitly there to reduce emergency department wait. You cut; we invest.