Ballarat to host one of five primary care centres to ease emergency department demand

A new primary care centre will open for 16 hours a day and treat urgent conditions that are not emergencies.

Ballarat will host one of five Victorian primary care centres to be up and running within months in an effort to draw demand away from strained emergency departments.

The state government will spend $14.3m to establish and run five GP-run Priority Primary Care Centres at Grampians Health Ballarat, the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Northern Hospital Epping, Sunshine Hospital, and Monash Medical Centre Clayton.

The centres, meant to reduce pressure on emergency departments, will be open for 16 hours every day and treat urgent conditions that are not emergencies, such as mild infections, fractures, and burns.

They will also offer pathology and imaging, and accept walk-ins, referrals, and appointments for an estimated 300 patients a week.

The Ballarat primary care centre will open by November and be led by GPs, but work in conjunction with Grampians Health to offer care at no cost to patients.

Grampians Health chief executive Dale Fraser said the Ballarat centre was an example of a health care model not currently on offer in the regional town.

“These centres work in conjunction with emergency departments with the goal to reduce demand on emergency departments through treatments that could be managed safely and effectively through a GP practice model,” he said.

“We are looking forward to that program commencing here in Ballarat to ensure that those that can get care outside our emergency department are afforded that opportunity as well.

“We certainly hope and expect to see a service offering that we don’t currently have in Ballarat and hopefully that does then lead on to more timely access to care and care being delivered at different locations.”

Premier Daniel Andrews said Covid had put the country’s health system under “unprecedented pressure”.

“This will reduce demand on our emergency departments, ensuring those that need urgent care can get it faster and avoid an unnecessary trip to the ED,” he said.

According to the government, presentations to emergency departments across the state hit a record 486,701 in the most recent quarter, up 5.1 per cent from the previous three months.