They were designed to reduce pressure on emergency departments. Are Urgent Care Clinics working?


Wed 2 Oct 2024
ABC News

Nicole Reynolds says her visit to an Urgent Care Clinic with a sports injury was quicker than visiting ED.

In short:
The Albanese government opened Medicare Urgent Care Clinics around the country in an effort to ease pressure on emergency departments.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has been critical of the clinics, saying they double up on what GPs already do.

What's next?
More clinics are scheduled to be opened.   


On a Friday afternoon in Ballarat, a staff-student netball game has gone wrong for Nicole Reynolds. A tipped ball has hit her in the face and broken her glasses.

The last place she wanted to go was the ED, and she doubted she could get a quick appointment with her GP.

She headed to the local Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, one of 75 opened across the country by the federal government since June 2023.

A woman sitting at a desk at a medical clinic.
Seventy-five Urgent Care Clinics have been opened across the country.

"The school said I need to get checked out. So I came here thinking that it would be a bit quicker than the emergency department on a Friday," she told 7.30.

"It seems like a really long wait, and this just seems quicker."

Ms Reynolds' experience is what Urgent Care Clinics were designed to do – relieve the pressure on emergency departments.

In Ballarat, staff believe the clinic is having an impact.

A sign on a window reads "Urgent care when it's not an emergency"
The clinics are for people who can't see a GP and need urgent care.

"We're seeing about 50 [patients] a day, and 1,500 patients a month, and 70 per cent of those would have otherwise presented to the emergency department," said Dr Matt Nigro from the Ballarat Medicare Urgent Care Clinic.

"[That's] significantly changing the outcomes for patients, but also taking the pressure off what is already a very, very pressured emergency department."

New model of care

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler says the clinics are working as intended.

Medicare Urgent Care Clinics were a campaign promise from Labor at the 2022 federal election. The government has committed $720 million to open and run 75 clinics, with another 12 clinics scheduled to open by the end of the year.

Many are open until 10pm during the week and are also open on weekends. They are staffed by GPs and nurses and are bulk billed.