Scott Levi, ABC Central Coast Breakfast Presenter: And big breaking news this morning at ABC Central Coast seven to eight. The Central Coast now has two urgent care clinics following the open of a second facility in Lake Haven. The federally funded clinics have been rolled out in a bid to reduce the pressure on the region's public hospital emergency departments. The first urgent care clinic on the Central Coast opened its doors in Umina three weeks ago. And the Member for Dobell and Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional health and former pharmacist at the Wyong Hospital, Emma McBride joins us in the studio this morning. Good morning.
Assistant Minister McBride: Good morning, Scott. It's so good to be with you.
Mr Levi: Yeah, good to talk to you. How much need is there for this urgent care clinic in the north coast. How do you see it operate?
Assistant Minister McBride: It is so important, Scott, that people across the Central Coast can get urgent care close to home and affordably. We know that at the moment, and you mentioned that I used to work at Wyong Hospital, at the moment about just over 50% of presentations at Wyong Hospital is considered semi urgent or non-urgent and what this will mean is that that person will be able to go to the urgent care clinic at Lake Haven where they'll be fully bulk billed without an appointment and get that urgent care - might be for a minor burn or break an ear infection - rather than putting more pressure on the already stretched emergency department at Wyong Hospital.
Mr Levi: So how much can they do? A bit of stitching if someone's chop their finger cutting up the tomatoes or something like that, you know how much can they do?
Assistant Minister McBride: So what they can do is they can do urgent but not life threatening care. So what we've seen typically at urgent care centers around New South Wales, and it's already been close to 12,000 presentations at urgent care clinics. Typically in a third of presentations, they're a child under 15. They might have fallen off their skateboard or had an injury while playing soccer, or have an infection, they might have a minor burn. They're the types of presentations that we're seeing where someone can then go to the urgent care clinic where they'll be able to be seen at urgent care clinics. They can also do pathology and X ray. So it's getting really good quality urgent care where a person gets the care they need right now and it takes the pressure off the emergency department.
Mr Levi: Have the doors open yet or is it? Yes, Yes -
Assistant Minister McBride: The doors opened yesterday at the urgent care clinic in Lake Haven. And as you mentioned, the doors opened on the 28th of November at the urgent care clinic in Umina and having spoken to Dr Gordon Reid, they're seeing at the moment about 30 patients a day at the urgent care clinic at Umina so a significant number of people already on the coast, benefiting from this really important type of care, while –
Mr Levi: The far north of the coast and the far south of the coast. Wouldn't it be better at Berkeley Vale in the geographical middle or something?
Assistant Minister McBride: So what we're looking at is where we've got the emergency department at Wyong Hospital and Gosford Hospital. And we also know that the state government is investing in their version of an urgent care type service, which will be happening at Long Jetty. So we're looking at a distribution from the far north to the far south to make sure that anyone on the Central Coast wherever they live, has an urgent care clinic or an emergency department and close to home.
Mr Levi: How do these clinics work? What are the operating hours particularly you know people, if they can't get to the emergency departments, will they be referred over to the urgent care clinic you know when there's a massive line of people being triaged and obviously people with heart attacks people with road trauma, life threatening things are going to go straight in? Is that how it works when you ring the urgent care clinic? What's the procedure?
Assistant Minister McBride: So with the urgent care clinic, you can walk in you don't need an appointment and the urgent care clinic at Lake Haven is open from 8am to 7pm weekdays and it's open 9am to 7pm on the weekends. And so what it will mean is someone can walk in without an appointment or be seen by an expert doctor and a nurse and get that urgent care right on the spot. And to your point it'll mean that other people who've had major trauma or a cardiac event will be able to be seen much more quickly at the hospital emergency department. And in other parts of Australia I've seen where people presenting to the emergency department have been recommended to go to the urgent care clinic including the one that I saw in Launceston in Tasmania.
Mr Levi: Just talking to other issues and this is a big one in your patch. Can you give us an update on where things stand with Sara Lee which went into voluntary administration in October with the search continuing for a new owner and no doubt a very stressful Christmas for the staff there with an uncertain future I think the thing we can do it I guess is buy lots of products to keep them afloat.
Assistant Minister McBride: That's a really is a much love brand on the Central Coast and has employed hundreds of locals for decades. And I've spoken to the union that's representing the workers there and also worked with closely with the state member David Mehan. We know that Sara Lee is very profitable it was to do with the ownership arrangements. So what we know is that it's very likely that there will be a good offer for Sara Lee and that's what we continue to work towards. And we know that that'll make a big difference in certainty and security for the local people there.
Mr Levi: All right, well, let's hope they can work their way through it. Many saying it's a viable business. It just needs better administration and the New Zealand Company running it ran into difficulty. Were you disappointed this year to lose a popular course On Ourimbah campus? There was a $10 million purpose built facility for the sports science there was taken lock stock and barrel to Newcastle and the board said purely to give them something really good to enhance the student experience in Newcastle because they wanted to create their own take something great out of a Ourimbah and make it better at Callahan leaving a big void there. I mean a lot of people were very upset and they're very worried about Ourimbah campus which of course is in your patch.
Assistant Minister McBride: Understandably and I working very closely with the University of Newcastle including the Vice Chancellor Alex Zelinsky. And just last week I met with local staff and from the university. Remember University has been central to education and pathways to higher learning on the Central Coast for decades. We want to make sure that local people wherever they live have a chance for quality education affordably and close to home.
Mr Levi: And we have a real need in that area, don't we with the stats showing in your region? tertiary studies are well below other regions.
Assistant Minister McBride: That's right, Scott, we know that I grew up in Wyoming and went to high school Tuggerah. And we know that on the Central Coast, particularly on the north end of the Central Coast. Fewer people have pathways and opportunities to higher education. A big part of what a render campus does, as you would know is enabling education. Almost 30% of their commencing students come through those non school leavers do very well.
Mr Levi: How can we bring it back to its glory? It should be an absolute shining light a jewel in the crown.
Assistant Minister McBride: It should absolutely and as I said, I'm working with the university itself with –
Mr Levi: I don't own it, the state government apparently owned it and what are their plans? I mean, there's a $20 million library there. It could be fantastic. It should be fantastic.
Assistant Minister McBride: It should and it's something that should remain as a higher learning, as you said, shining light for our community, and I'm working with the state government. I've raised this several times with the Education Minister Jason Clare who has a deep interest in equity and access to education. So we know how important to remember campuses and we will continue to press to make sure that local people get the opportunity to have a quality education close to home and contribute to our local economy.
Mr Levi: All right, so much happening in your region. Thank you so much for popping into the studio. Appreciate your time, Emma McBride. There, the member for Dobell, ABC Central Coast coming up to news time at eight o'clock.