Albanese government “walking away from promise” to deliver urgent care clinics within a year

The locations of 50 new urgent care clinics to treat non-life threatening injuries and illness have not been finalised despite the Albanese government’s pledge to have trial sites operational by May.

The locations of 50 new urgent care clinics to treat non-life threatening injuries and illness have not been finalised despite the Albanese government’s pledge to have trial sites operational by May.

Existing GPs hoping to apply for a multimillion-dollar grant to establish a bulk-billed after-hours clinic have not yet been given the criteria to do so, while specific locations proposed during the 2022 federal election have not been locked in.

The Opposition has accused Labor of “walking away from its promise” and called on the government to give a realistic timeline for delivering the facilities.

More than seven months after Labor committed to have the urgent care clinics up and running within a year, the federal Department of Health has advised it was still “working with state and territory governments to finalise locations”.

In response to a question on notice the department also confirmed the grant guidelines for the clinics were “not yet available”.

During the election Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced several urgent care clinic locations, including Cessnock in NSW. Picture: Toby Zerna

Designed to take pressure off the nation’s hospitals, the 50 clinics – initially estimated to cost a total of $135 million – were described by Finance Minister Katy Gallagher on the eve of the election as a “real priority”.

Labor later allocated $235m in its October budget over four years to deliver on its urgent care commitments.

Almost a third of electorates were promised a clinic, which would be staffed by GPs between 8am and 10pm in an effort to divert patients with non-life threatening injuries, such a sprain or cut, away from overworked emergency departments.

Coalition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston said Labor’s headline election commitment “seems to no longer be so urgent”.

“This is another broken promise not only to the Australian people, but to hard working hospital and health care staff who believed these Urgent Care Clinics would provide them some relief and deliver health services to the broader community,” she said.

Ms Ruston said in addition to finalising locations and the timeline for getting the clinics up and running, the government must “urgently explain” how it would staff the clinics.

Opposition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston has accused Labor of breaking its promise to deliver the clinics in a year. Picture: Amanda Parkinson

“In the midst of a health workforce crisis, where hospitals, aged care and community health facilities are all competing for access to GPs, nursing and care workforce,” she said.

A department spokesman said the government would “deliver on commitments” made in relation to the clinics, and was “continuing to work through implementation details with states and territories”.

“The government announced the locations of the (clinics) during the election campaign,” he said.

“Further information on the clinics, including grant opportunity processes, will be available over the coming months.”

The spokesman said the government was working to “leverage the available workforce,” while “building capability in urgent care”.

He also confirmed work was underway to ensure the Commonwealth facilities did not “duplicate” similar state clinics announced by the Victorian and NSW governments.