A central pillar of the Federal Government’s health strategy began to take shape this week with the announcement of four new urgent care clinics (UCCs) in Tasmania.
The Medicare UCCs will provide bulk billed care for people who need to see a health professional with an urgent but not life-threatening problem, over extended hours, seven days a week, with the aim of easing pressure on major hospitals – allowing them to concentrate on higher-priority emergencies.
The newest UCCs will be established in Devonport and Launceston, with two in Hobart, and will be funded by the Australian and Tasmanian Government with the goal of starting to see patients by mid-2023.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was joined in Hobart by the Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mr Mark Butler, and Tasmanian Premier and Minister for Health, Mr Jeremy Rockliff, for the joint announcement on 17 April 2023.
“What this is about is making sure that we can take pressure off the hospital system by strengthening Medicare – simple as that,” Mr Albanese said.
“The primary health care system is linked to what is happening in our hospitals… we know so many people turn up to hospital because they do not have a choice. They cannot access a bulk-billing doctor, or they are aged care residents who do not have a nurse on site… what we are doing is working through these issues in a way that strengthens Medicare.”
“Urgent care clinics are a major focus of that… Instead of spending hours in an emergency department, local patients will be able to visit a Medicare UCC, be seen by highly trained doctors and nurses, get X-rays or blood tests, and they will be bulk billed,” Minister Butler added.
“Right across the country, our hospital systems, particularly in the wake of COVID, are dealing with unprecedented pressure. And being able to take some of that pressure off the front door of the EDs through being able to redirect these semi or non-urgent presentations… will really take pressure off the doctors, nurses and other staff who are working so hard in our hospital system.”
More than 41% of presentations to EDs in Tasmania were classified as semi- or non-urgent.
Premier Rockliff explained that potential UCC providers were being identified through a tender process, following an expression of interest period that closed earlier in 2023.
“But also, one of our key challenges at the moment is workforce and workforce development,” Mr Rockliff said.
“We have been engaged, and certainly I have with Minister Butler, on increasing workforce capacity.”
In a radio interview with ABC Hobart Mornings on 18 April 2023, Mr Butler highlighted that he had been talking to general practices across the country about the issues contributing to staffing shortfalls, as well as the potential impact of the UCCs on GP patient numbers.
“It’s been very clear to me that all the practices with an interest in this area want to keep their… existing patients serviced as well,” he said.
“This would be an additional service; they’d be adding to their practice, not cutting existing things to do this.”
Mr Butler clarified that existing general practice “just isn’t really set up to do that in the way that we’re envisaging with these Urgent Care Clinics,”
“It’s not just about the fact they’ll be free of charge – it’s that they’ll be available 8am to 10pm, they’ll be available 7 days a week – there will be requirements on them to be staffed up and equipped to deal with the sorts of emergencies, the non-life-threatening emergencies that I’ve talked about,” Minister Butler said.
“That’s not the bread-and-butter of general practice.”
He also emphasized that the UCCs were not meant for patients who were struggling with the cost of seeing a non-bulk-billing GP in Tasmania.
“This is not for them: we want to be very clear that this is not a place to go to because you can’t get into your local GP with a relatively routine matter that is not urgent,” Minister Butler said.
“You cannot just go there to get a routine script or to do the sorts of things you want to do with your GP. It will be very clear that the patients presenting there will be admitted to that care if they have a non-life-threatening emergency: a need for urgent care.”