Access to timely treatment for urgent, non-life-threatening conditions, has expanded with the funding of the new Austral Medicare Urgent Care Clinic (UCC).
It opened at 8 Landaise Road, Austral last week.
The free (bulk-billed) service, delivered by ForHealth which also operates the Campbelltown, Bankstown and Fairfield Medicare UCCs, will provide access to immediate medical care for extended hours.
It is the sixth Urgent Care site in South Western Sydney, with others operating at Campbelltown, Bankstown, Fairfield, Liverpool and Gregory Hills.
Assistant minister for mental health and suicide prevention Emma McBride and the member for Werriwa Anne Stanley (pictured below) toured the facility a few days earlier and met onsite with ForHealth Director NSW/ACT Medical Centres, Mark Buckley, and Austral UCC staff, pictured above.
Urgent Care Clinics are funded by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and complement the role of GPs by providing short term, episodic care for acute health conditions which do not require hospital emergency department attention.
They offer care for non-life-threatening conditions like minor illnesses and injuries including coughs, stomach bugs, urinary infections, small fractures, cuts and burns.
Urgent Care also has access to blood tests and x-rays, either on site or nearby.
South Western Sydney PHN (SWSPHN) acting chief executive officer Amy Prince said Urgent Care was a safe and reliable option for locals, with more than 30,000 patients accessing care across our region in the last financial year.
Of these, almost 40 per cent of patients reported they would have gone to the hospital emergency department if Urgent Care wasn’t available to them.
“Our community has clearly embraced Urgent Care, finding services easy to access with much shorter waiting times – usually 15 to 40 minutes – than at a busy emergency department,” Ms Prince said.
“The clinics are staffed by experienced and compassionate medical professionals who provide safe, inclusive and accessible care for everyone, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, and those living with disabilities.
“Another important feature of Urgent Care is that it ensures continuity of care by providing patients with a discharge summary for their regular GP, including any test results. Patients are also encouraged to book any follow up care needed with their regular GP.”
Ms Prince said SWSPHN welcomed the opportunity to continue supporting Urgent Care as it became more widely available to patients across our region.
“We’re looking forward to again partnering with ForHealth to deliver a service which meets the needs of our community,” she said.
Austral UCC will be open from 8am until late, seven days a week, including public holidays. Walk-ins are welcome and no appointment is necessary.
