Why after-hours care is important
After-hours care is accessible primary health care outside of normal general practice opening hours and outside of hospital emergency departments.
After-hours care is important to ensure Australians have access to appropriate care when treatment can’t wait. This is particularly in cases where treatment may not require a visit to a hospital emergency department.
After-hours care should not be a substitute for primary care that could otherwise occur 'in hours'.
What we’re doing about after-hours care
After Hours Review
The After Hours Review looked at how we could improve the primary care after-hours system. Read more about the review and final report.
GP care
We support after-hours primary care through a GP incentive program. This program supports general practices to provide their patients with appropriate access to after-hours care.
Some practices provide the after-hours care themselves, while others arrange for another medical service to offer it.
Primary Health Networks (PHNs) also fund or provide after-hours care services. Learn more in the 2020 PHN after-hours evaluation report.
Healthdirect also offers an after-hours primary care linkages service. This links people who call the healthdirect helpline to after-hours GP services where needed.
Medicare Urgent Care Clinics offer bulk billed urgent care. Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are open extended business hours and do not require an appointment or referral.
Helplines
We fund helplines for advice and support during and after hours. These include:
- healthdirect helpline (1800 022 222) – 24-hour service where you speak to a registered nurse for advice on managing your issue or seeking medical care
- healthdirect after-hours GP helpline – extension of the healthdirect helpline that connects you to an after-hours GP by phone or video call
- Pregnancy, Birth and Baby hotline (1800 882 436) – from 7am to midnight where you speak to a maternal child health nurse about you or your baby.