New Medicare Urgent Care Clinics to open in Tasmania ‘by the middle of the year’ PM says

An additional Medicare Urgent Care Clinic has been prescribed for Tasmania, promising to ease pressure on the state’s emergency departments and GPs. All the latest details >>

An additional bulk-billed Medicare Urgent Care Clinic has been prescribed for Tasmania, promising to ease pressure on the state’s emergency departments and GPs.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will today announce that two clinics will now be established in Hobart, along with one each for Launceston and Devonport.

It was previously announced that Tasmania would have three Urgent Care Clinics (UCCs), but a fourth is also now set to open this year.

Medicare UCCs will provide bulk-billed care for patients over extended hours seven days a week, offering high-quality care for people who need to see a doctor with an urgent, but not life-threatening, problem.

All four clinics will be jointly funded by the Commonwealth and Tasmanian Governments and are “expected to see patients by the middle of the year”.

While a UCC was originally slated for Burnie, a clinic will instead be established in the Devonport/Latrobe area after consultation with the state government.

Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese will be in Tasmania today. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

“We understand that Tasmanians need better access to affordable healthcare, close to home,” Mr Albanese said.

“Our Urgent Care Clinics are a common sense solution that will mean people can access a doctor close to where they live, while also taking pressure off of emergency departments.

“This is about making sure that they can get the right care, in the right place, when it’s needed, and that it’s bulk-billed through the Medicare system.”

Premier Jeremy Rockliff said they would work with the feds to make sure the new bulk-billing centres — that will also accept walk-in patients — were “established as quickly as practical”.

“There is nothing more important than affordable, accessible healthcare in our communities,” Mr Rockliff said.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff. Picture: Chris Kidd

“The Tasmanian Government understands the important role that the primary healthcare sector plays in caring for our community and we look forward to seeing the establishment of Medicare Urgent Care Clinics across all regions of Tasmania.

“By providing more affordable, accessible healthcare in the community, we can reduce the number of people coming into needing care in an acute hospital setting, relieving some of the demand pressures we are now seeing in our hospitals.”

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said instead of spending hours in an emergency department, “local patients will be able to visit a Medicare UCC, be seen by highly trained doctors and nurses, get X-rays or blood tests, and they will be bulk billed”.

Currently, more than 41 per cent of presentations to emergency departments in Tasmania are classified as semi- or non-urgent.

The exact locations of the clinics are yet to be determined, with providers being identified through a Tasmanian Government tender process, following an expression of interest that closed earlier this year.