Health Minister Mark Butler committed to extended hours for urgent care clinics

Some of Victoria’s urgent care clinics continue to operate at reduced hours due to staff shortages, prompting the federal government to undertake significant recruitment activity.

Health Minister Mark Butler insists Labor will keep its promise to have urgent care clinics operating every day between 8am and 10pm but says the government can’t “click our fingers” and make it happen from the outset.

The Herald Sun last month revealed four of the nine “super clinics” in Victoria were failing to operate for the extended hours – with one at Shepparton forced to shut its doors three days during the week, and limit its after-hours care due to a shortage of doctors.

However, the facility is now open seven days a week, and for the promised 8am to 10pm on Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

“Improved staffing availability has enabled the centre to expand its opening hours,” a Shepparton Medical Centre spokesperson said.

But the Herald Sun understands it has not received any additional support to do, and its temporary hours will be contingent on workforce availability.

Sunbury has also extended its operating hours and is expected to open 14 hours a day from next week.

No changes have been made to the opening hours at the clinics in Geelong and Ballarat.

Health Minister Mark Butler. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Asked what federal Labor was doing to support the four Victorian clinics operate extended hours seven days a week, Mr Butler said: “We’re working with all of our urgent care service providers to make sure that those arrangements, that were made very clear in the request for tender, will be able to be introduced very quickly.”

“We committed to these being extended hour clinics, to being fully bulk billed, to operating seven days a week, because that’s what a meaningful urgent care service does,” he said.

“But we’re not always going to be able to click our fingers and from day one, have every service operating those hours from the outset.

“We will work with Primary Health Networks (and) with rural workforce agencies who have responsibility for making sure that practices are supported in recruiting doctors”.

Significant recruitment activity is underway in Victoria with the support of the state government and Primary Health Networks.

But Mr Butler said everyone in the health care system was struggling with staff shortages and the government could not “just conjure up doctors”, particularly in the cities that had recruitment restrictions for overseas trained doctors.

This will require individual arrangements at some clinics, according to Mr Butler, who said he was committed to making sure the model worked.

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