ASSISTANT MINISTER EMMA MCBRIDE: Thank you very much. I'm so proud to be here today in Gladstone for the official opening of the new Medicare Urgent Care Clinic. This is joining more than 16 that are open in Queensland at the moment, and one of eight new urgent care clinics that we're opening.
We've seen across the country now, since the urgent care model was introduced in Australia, more than 2.2 million visits showing that urgent care is a trusted place for Australians to go to seek urgent care and support. Importantly, with our Medicare Urgent Care clinics you don't need to make an appointment, and they're free. And in every Medicare urgent care clinic there's access to pathology and medical imaging so someone can get the wraparound support and care they need for free.
And we've seen across the country about one in four presentations are children under 15, which is showing that urgent care clinics are a trusted place for families to go as an alternative to the emergency department. We also know that emergency departments in the Queensland Hospital and Health Service are under pressure with growing demands. And through the urgent care we know that those semi-urgent or non-urgent presentations will be able to be seen in the Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, helping to ease pressure on the very busy hospital emergency department, and to mean that the staff there at the emergency department can see people sooner with more urgent or life-threatening conditions.
I want to thank the PHN and ForHealth for commissioning and operating this service here in Gladstone. And also it's worth noting that this practice, which opened in October, is a fully bulk billing practice Our Government has made a more than $8.5 billion investment in strengthening Medicare and growing our medical workforce, and a big part of that is tripling the bulk billing incentive.
When we first introduced the bulk billing incentive, it was for children under 16 and healthcare card holders. At the last election we promised to extend that to all Australians, and from 1 November that has occurred. And we've seen now more than 2,000 practices across the country are now fully bulk billing practises, which is meaning that more Australians can access the care that they need close to home and for free.
As a pharmacist myself and someone who worked in a busy regional hospital I know the difference that our investment in primary care is making to people and families being able to access support, and also helping to ease the pressure on our really busy medical departments, including right here in Gladstone.
I want to thank the GP’s, the nursing staff, the receptionists, everybody who is part of providing this new model of care in Australia, which is making such a big difference to people and families. And particularly, I know it'd be welcome here in Gladstone, opening in the lead up to Christmas and summer where we do see a big spike in injuries and accidents and know that people now have an alternative. They can come right here to Gladstone Central, 8am to 8pm seven days a week, to get the support they need for free. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Amazing. Yeah, well Central Queensland, especially Gladstone, has struggled with healthcare access for a long time. Do you think this clinic will help that demand?
MCBRIDE: We know when we've opened up Urgent Care Clinics in Rockhampton, Rockhampton has seen now more than 29,000 visits since 2023. Typically with Urgent Care Clinics, we're seeing about 40 to 45 visits a day. The difference that'll make to local people to be able to get more timely care and again to take pressure off the very busy Gladstone Hospital emergency department will make a very big difference. So I anticipate that we'll have similar numbers of presentations here in Gladstone as we've had in Rockhampton and other parts of Queensland.
JOURNALIST: And how quickly do you expect this clinic to sort of reduce that pressure off the hospital?
MCBRIDE: Well, we have seen that. So when we first introduced urgent cares, which was June 2023, we did see within the first sort of quarters of reporting a reduction in presentations to the hospitals. In some hospitals, what it's meant is that people have been able to be seen sooner and also that for the staff working within the hospitals, they're being able to see the more life-threatening or serious presentations much more quickly. So it's helping local people to be able to get care quicker and also easing the pressure on your really busy emergency departments.
JOURNALIST: So you do expect for the Gladstone Hospital- for those wait times to drop?
MCBRIDE: We know that summer is a particularly busy time in hospitals, but what we will see is that people will have an alternative. So for someone who has a cut, someone who needs suturing, someone who needs a plaster, someone's had a spike in temperature will be able to come to the urgent care, which will mean that those people who are presenting to the ED with more serious conditions will be able to be seen more quickly.
JOURNALIST: Yeah, and how important is fully bulk-billed care in this sort of cost-of-living crisis?
MCBRIDE: I know as a pharmacist myself who worked in a community pharmacy, I saw people who were delaying or avoiding care simply because they could not afford to pay. And now, we've seen a big boost in the investment in bulk billing and also another practice incentive, another 12.5 per cent. So for a medical practice, if they bulk bill every eligible patient, they get another 12.5 per cent on top of that, split between the GP and the medical practice. So more financial support for doctors to bulk bill and better viability for practices.
And also from 1 January next year, we'll see a big reduction in the cost of prescriptions. I know we've got Optimal Pharmacy here from Gladstone. As a pharmacist myself, I saw people come in with a load of groceries and they've just been to see a doctor, and a parent would say to me, which antibiotic- can I get this same antibiotic mixture and share it between my two children? We want to see in Australia, every Australian, particularly parents and families, be able to access the healthcare they need. So to have a big boost in bulk billing and from 1 January next year, the cost of PBS general prescriptions will be cut from $31.60 to $25. And to put that into context, that's the cost of PBS general prescriptions in 2004, very early in my pharmacy career. And I know that that'll make a really big difference. So bulk-billed care right here in Gladstone and cheaper medicines at Gladstone Optimal Pharmacy and pharmacies across the country from 1 January.
JOURNALIST: Amazing. And just lastly, do you expect that there will be enough nurses and doctors to staff this clinic for the long term?
MCBRIDE: Yes, we do. We have made the biggest investment in doctors in Australia, including making it easier for international doctors to work in Australia, particularly in regional parts of Australia. And we've also seen for the first time in nearly a decade all of our GP training programs full, both through the Royal Australian College of General Practice and the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine. So we're seeing a big shift in the number of Australian medical graduates who are choosing general practice as a specialty. And part of that is because doctors have told me at places like Gladstone and in places right around the country that they really enjoy working in urgent care, because they can work to the top of their skills and training, to the top of their scope as part of a multi-disciplinary team. And providing that where they can diagnose, create a treatment plan and send someone home sutured up or plastered within a very short space of time. And I want to acknowledge ForHealth and the contribution that they're making in Queensland and more broadly across the country in making sure that we've got highly skilled GPs, nurse practitioners and in the future paramedics as well to be able to be providing this urgent care.