In its first year the Ipswich Medicare Urgent Care Clinic has had more than 12,500 visits, bolstering the region’s health services and diverting patients from the Ipswich Hospital Emergency Department.
The Ipswich Medicare Urgent Care Clinic (UCC) opened its doors in August last year, delivering on the Albanese Labor Government’s commitment to make it easier for locals to see a doctor or nurse for urgent care.
The largest proportion of patients to the Ipswich Medicare UCC have been children, with almost 1 in 3 visits from people aged under 15 years old.
Almost 1 in 3 visits to the clinic have taken place on the weekend, and over 1 in 4 were after 5pm on weekdays.
The most common presentations at the Ipswich Medicare UCC have been for conditions including upper respiratory tract infections, lacerations, and urinary tract infections.
Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler said the Albanese Government was delivering on its promise to strengthen Medicare, make medicines cheaper, and give people in Ipswich the high quality, bulk billed urgent care they deserve.
Last year, Labor delivered the biggest investment in Medicare in its 40-year history, resulting in Ipswich’s bulk billing rate now 81.2% for all GP visits, Minister Butler said.
“We know the community is continuing to face cost-of-living pressures which is why we’re continuing to make medicines cheaper,” Minister Butler said.
“People in Ipswich have saved $7.5 million on the costs of their medicines since the Albanese Government, cut the maximum cost of PBS scripts for the first time in 75 years, lowered the Safety Net threshold and introduced 60-day prescriptions.
“Our government is also delivering high quality, fully bulk billed urgent care to the Ipswich community.”
Member for Blair Shayne Neumann said the Albanese Government’s investments in bulk billing meant more Blair residents were getting bulk billed visits at the GP than they were last year.
“The latest Medicare billing data shows the Albanese Government’s record investment to strengthen Medicare one year ago has revived bulk billing, with Blair residents accessing an additional 83,000 bulk billed GP visits in the last 12 months,” Mr Neumann said.
“Families with children under 16, pensioners and concession cardholders have seen
the greatest increase in bulk billing.”
Mr Neumann said Ipswich’s UCC had contributed to a substantial reduction in presentations to the Ipswich Hospital ED with 38.9% of Ipswich UCC patients reporting they would have visited ED if UCC was not available.
“I was proud to open the Ipswich Urgent Care Clinic in August last year – delivering on a really important commitment I made to the people of Blair at the last election,” Mr Neumann said.
“This is allowing local families have access to a bulk billing doctor close to home when they need it, helping to ease cost of living pressures. All they need is their Medicare card.”
Minister Butler said Labor introduced Medicare 40 years ago and Labor had defended and strengthened it ever since.
“We know there is more work to do but our investments are resulting in cheaper medicines and more bulk billing in Ipswich,” he said.
“Across the country, our record investment to strengthen Medicare has created an additional 5.4 million additional bulk billed visits since November last year, or 103,000 extra bulk billed visits every week on average. We’re making it easier to see a doctor, making medicines cheaper, and have opened the Ipswich Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, providing fully bulk billed urgent care.”
The UCC is at the Riverlink Medical & Dental Centre, North Ipswich, and open seven days a week with extended hours and offers walk-in care that is fully bulk billed.
