CAROL BROWN, TASMANIAN SENATOR: Today is an incredibly important announcement for the people of Glenorchy, Derwent Park, in fact across the whole of the northern suburbs. In recent months, I've heard from people of Glenorchy who are telling me that urgent care is very difficult to get in a timely manner. We have parents with sick kids, we have older Tasmanians trying to get care, and we have families waiting in emergency departments for hours and hours waiting to be treated. So what I've heard from people in the Glenorchy area is that an Urgent Care Clinic would be terribly important and would make a real difference, not only to take and relieve the pressure off emergency department and the ambulance service, but it would provide for them urgent care, seven days a week, free of charge, fully bulk billed for their children, their families. It takes a lot of pressure off them accessing urgent healthcare. They know that this sort of service is a real game changer here. So I would like to thank all of those hundreds and hundreds of people that have contacted me through the survey that I have put out to the community and say thank you for advocating for this service, for an Urgent Care Clinic, because what we are announcing today is a service that you advocated for. Your voices have been heard, and you are now going to get the service that you need and deserve.
I will now hand over to the Assistant Minister, Rebecca White, who will talk through the details of the announcement.
REBECCA WHITE, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING: Thank you very much, Carol. Well, it is a really exciting day and it is a response to the community of the northern suburbs who've shared with us the need for closer access to a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic. We're really thrilled that the Federal Labor Government will be able to respond to this call and deliver a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic for the northern suburbs of Hobart. We will be going out to an open tender process, and we are hopeful that we'll be able to open this new service later this year, which will make a big difference for a lot of families in this community, a lot of older residents in this community who will have access to somewhere that is completely bulk billed, seven days a week, after hours as well as through the day to access the healthcare that they need.
Here in Tasmania, we have eight Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, and they are doing extraordinary work supporting the health of our community right across the state. We know that about one in four presentations to an Urgent Care Clinic happens on a weekend, and that about one in three presentations happens after 5pm. So, these are filling a really significant gap in our healthcare system by providing access to services after hours and on a weekend for families and others in our community who need access to urgent care, and it is entirely bulk billed.
Across the country, we've now opened 136 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, and these 136 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics across the country have seen over 3 million Australians. So we understand how important this is, especially here in the northern suburbs, to be able to provide access to free urgent care, taking pressure off our busy emergency department, but more importantly providing close access for families when they need it.
JOURNALIST: Minister, why is, I guess, having these sort of facilities in this part of Hobart so important? I mean, you said that the community was coming out and talking to you guys about a sort of need for it. In a cost of living crisis, why are these sort of sites and locations so important?
WHITE: The Federal Labor Government's been really deliberate in investing in Medicare and strengthening it so people can have access not only to a bulk billing GP, and we've seen a significant increase in bulk billing GPs here in Tasmania, but also expanding our Medicare Urgent Care Clinic program. We know that Australians, and particularly members of our community here in the northern suburbs who are dealing with cost of living pressures, are getting enormous benefit from being able to go and see a GP for free and taking pressure off their family budget, but it also takes pressure off the state government's budget by removing those presentations from the emergency department. So this is a combined effort by our government to make sure that we can support people to access cost of living relief through cheaper access to healthcare, but also better health outcomes closer to where they live.
JOURNALIST: Sorry, the line’s been dropping in and out, so you may have already answered this question, but how much would this site specifically cost? And how many beds or rooms are there for patients to be assessed at any one time?
WHITE: Yeah, sure. So the Medicare Urgent Care Clinics across the country were funded in our most recent Federal Budget on an ongoing basis, so they are going to be a permanent feature of the health landscape, and that is a significant investment of billions of dollars over the course of the next few years. This particular site will be going out to tender and we'll be calling for expressions of interest to run this service and hope to have it established before the end of the year so that Tasmanians who are living here in the northern suburbs can have access to bulk billed urgent care after hours and on the weekend.
JOURNALIST: So, I guess there's no indication how many people it would serve at this stage?
WHITE: Well, we know here in Tasmania there have been over 170,000 people who've already used a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic. In the locations that we do have here in the south of the state, the Bathurst Clinic has seen about 28,000 Tasmanians, the Liverpool Street Clinic has seen about 24,000 Tasmanians since they opened in 2023. So I have no doubt that this clinic here in the northern suburbs will service tens of thousands of patients in its first couple of years of operating, supporting families to have access to care that they need, closer home that is completely bulk billed and taking pressure off the busy emergency department.
JOURNALIST: As you mentioned before, obviously healthcare is very important. Are there any other locations in the state that the Federal Government are eyeing off as hot spots that perhaps are struggling to meet demand and might need an Urgent Care Clinic or something similar? Is there any other locations that are currently being scoped out?
WHITE: So, ahead of the last federal election, our government committed to open a further 50 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics. We've now opened nearly all of those, just one remaining, bringing the total number of Medicare Urgent Care Clinics across the country to 137, including eight here in in Tasmania. Before the last election, we promised to open new clinics at Sorell and Kingston and in Burnie. They have all now opened, and of course today we're announcing that Glenorchy or the northern suburbs will get a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, which is to complement the other services we already have available.
We've also done a lot to strengthen Medicare, to make sure that Tasmanians can have access to a bulk billing GP. We know that affordability of healthcare has been a real pressure point for a lot of Tasmanian families, and that's why the Albanese Labor Government has been investing so much time and so many resources into making sure we can increase access and reduce costs, so that there aren't those out of pocket fees that mean a lot of people have put off getting access to the healthcare care that they need.
JOURNALIST: Awesome, no other questions from me, guys. Thank you for your time.
WHITE: Thank you.
BROWN: Thank you.