SARAH HOWELLS, HOST: And I wonder, have you heard of Urgent Care Clinics? The federal government has been rolling them out across Australia for the past couple of years. In Queensland itself, there are already 16 clinics, with a further 8 to be established across the state. You can find them across the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast, and as of today, there is a brand new one that's opening in Buderim. Here to cut the ribbon is Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention and Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health, Emma McBride. Good morning.
ASSISTANT MINISTER EMMA MCBRIDE: Good to be with you, Sarah.
HOWELLS: Now, for those who haven't come across these yet, how does the Urgent Care Clinic work?
MCBRIDE: An Urgent Care Clinic is a place that you can walk in where you don't need an appointment and where you can get urgent care for non-life-threatening conditions. As you mentioned, we've opened now 94 across the country, expanding that network to 137 and one opening right here in Buderim today – where someone might have had an accident or an injury, they might have a temperature, they might have a sprain, and they can get urgent care. Within the urgent care clinics, we've got specialist GPs and nurses and as well as access to pathology and medical imaging. So you can walk in without an appointment and be fully bulk billed under Medicare. For free, receiving the urgent care that you need.
HOWELLS: Fantastic. And how much pressure is this going to take off the Sunshine Coast University Hospital?
MCBRIDE: We know that at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital, about 27 per cent of presentations are considered or classified as semi-urgent or non-urgent. They're the type of presentations that will now be able to be seen at the Urgent Care Clinic, meaning that people who have more life-threatening conditions with more serious emergencies can be seen quicker at your local hospital.
HOWELLS: And now, there are already two Urgent Care Clinics established on the Gold Coast. What difference has that made to the community there?
MCBRIDE: Well, we first opened urgent cares back in 2023, and the ones in the Gold Coast have been open since that time. Typically, we're seeing about 40 or 45 people a day going to your local Urgent Care Clinics on the Gold Coast. And the highest number of visitors, about 1 in 4 are young people under 15. So they're proving to be a very trusted alternative for parents with younger children to the emergency department, and also over 1 in 4 presentations are outside what will be normal GP clinic hours. So giving that urgent care over extended hours.
The Medicare Urgent Care Clinic in Buderim will be open at the moment from 8 am till 5 pm, but in February, early in the new year, those hours will be expanded to 8 am till 10 pm, making sure that people can get the care they need over extended hours and close to home.
HOWELLS: Because it is typical that it's always after hours that the kids get sick, right?
MCBRIDE: Exactly right. My sister's got a new baby and a temperature will spike. You're not sure whether you might need to get some more support or not, and going to an urgent care means that you can get that support quickly, close to home, and for free. And if it is something more life-threatening, then the urgent care will then be able to triage you to the hospital if that's the most appropriate place for care for you or for your loved one.
HOWELLS: And so how many patients a day do you think the Buderim Medical Centre is expected to see, the Urgent Care Clinic?
MCBRIDE: I anticipate, similarly to other ones in Queensland, about 40 to 45 presentations a day. And we've now seen more than 2.2 million visits across the country, and the pattern across the country is, as I said, about 1 in 4 presentations being young people under 15 and about 1 in 4 out of normal hours. And I think we'd probably see similar patterns.
And it's really important that it's opening at this time of year because we know that over Christmas and New Year, we do see a spike in accidents and injuries, the type of things that, you know, someone who used to be a skateboarder and now doesn't have the balance that they did before while they're showing their niece or nephew how to ride.
HOWELLS: Are you speaking from experience there? [Laughs]
MCBRIDE: Well, I am an auntie to 14 nieces and nephews, but it is …
HOWELLS: Wow.
MCBRIDE: … and is a Surf Lifesaver. We do see it this time of year, people being outdoors and active, which is really important, but also sometimes ending up needing some urgent care, and they'll now be able to have that close to home in Buderim.
HOWELLS: Fantastic. And are there more Urgent Care Clinics set to come to the Gold or Sunshine Coasts?
MCBRIDE: Yes, there are. As you mentioned, we've got 16 operating in Queensland already, another eight to come, and there'll be one in Caloundra opening early in the new year.
HOWELLS: Okay. Now you are also, while you're in town, popping into headspace, I hear, while you're in Maroochydore. What's happening there?
MCBRIDE: Yes. I am so pleased that headspace Maroochydore is one of the first headspaces across the country that will be uplifted to a new model of care called headspace Plus. When headspace was first introduced nearly 20 years ago, it was for young people experiencing mild to moderate anxiety or depression. Fast forward 20 years, the complexities of presentations and the drivers of distress amongst young people have changed considerably.
We're working with Orygen and headspace National and other expert mental health providers and people with lived experience to develop this new model of care, headspace Plus, and Maroochydore will be one of those. In the meantime, though, Maroochydore has benefited from close to $1 million of demand management and enhancement funding to make sure that it can the needs of young people today and be better placed in the future to meet the changing needs of young people and how they seek support.
HOWELLS: Well, you've got a busy day ahead, so thank you very much for dropping in. Do you get to cut a ribbon at Buderim today?
MCBRIDE: We may. For me, for myself, I'm a pharmacist by background and a mental health worker. To be able to see access change for people, that's the part that is really rewarding. To know that someone, a parent or a young person, will be able to now walk in without an appointment for free and just use your Medicare card, that's better than cutting a ribbon.
HOWELLS: Fantastic. Assistant Minister Emma McBride, thank you very much for popping in this morning.
MCBRIDE: So good to be with you.
HOWELLS: Absolutely.
