Morphett Vale Family Practice about to become Morphett Vale Medicare Urgent Care
The latest Medicare Urgent Care Clinic offering bulk billed services for walk-in patients is set to open in Adelaide’s south within weeks.
SA News
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Adelaide’s next Medicare Urgent Care Clinic will be established at Doctors Rd, Morphett Vale, and is expected to start seeing patients in December.
The Morphett Vale Family Practice will become the Morphett Vale Medicare Urgent Care Clinic (UCC) offering bulk billed service seven days a week with no appointment needed.
Officials say it will take pressure off Noarlunga Hospital where more than 45 per cent of presentations are for non-urgent or semi-urgent care.
It is one of the five Medicare UCCs to be established in South Australia. Clinics have opened in Elizabeth and Marion, while others are planned for western Adelaide and Mount Gambier before the end of the year.
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said the latest clinic delivered on Labor’s commitment to make it easier for South Australians to get urgent treatment from highly qualified doctors and nurses
“The Morphett Vale Medicare UCC is going to make a big difference to patients down south,” he said.
“It will mean locals who need urgent but non-life threatening care can get it quickly even if it’s outside standard hours – and all they’ll need is their Medicare card.
“The Albanese Government is committed to strengthening Medicare and making it easier and cheaper to get quality healthcare, by tripling the bulk billing incentive and making medicines cheaper.”
MP for Kingston Amanda Rishworth welcomed the clinic.
“I know many families who have had to wait long hours at the emergency department for non-life-threatening issues,” she said.
“This clinic in my electorate of Kingston will ease pressure on Noarlunga Hospital, allowing it to concentrate on higher priority emergencies.”
State Health Minister Chris Picton said the clinic will ease pressure of lower priority cases on local emergency departments.
“I know that many residents will welcome this alternative to attending an emergency department,” he said. “Locals will be able to walk in, see a doctor or nurse and access imaging and pathology services.
“All of these services will be bulk-billed and come at no additional cost to patients.”
There have bee almost 500 presentations to the two open SA UCCs, taking pressure off the Lyell McEwin and Flinders Emergency Departments. Elizabeth UCC opened on October 23 and Marion UCC opened on November 6.
Officials cited the case of “Bill” as an example of patients.
Bill, 32, presented at the Elizabeth UCC from work after contents from an industrial rubbish bin he was emptying became stuck in his eye despite wearing safety goggles.
He was determined as Triage Category 5. His eye was flushed with saline and the doctor used specialised eye examination equipment to assess the eye, determine the foreign body was no longer in the eye but there was some abrasion and irritation which was managed with antibiotic eye drops.
Bill received a tetanus booster in addition to the antibiotics, and total time from arrival to discharge was 32 minutes.
Originally published as Morphett Vale Family Practice about to become Morphett Vale Medicare Urgent Care
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