SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER
MINISTER FINANCE
MINISTER FOR WOMEN
MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE
MINISTER FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICES
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC CANBERRA DRIVE
MONDAY, 3 MARCH 2025
SUBJECTS: 50 more Medicare Urgent Care Clinics.
JAMES FINDLAY, HOST: It’s ten past five. Well, a big announcement from the Government yesterday. They plan to open another 50 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics across the country, including one in Woden. Katy Gallagher is the Labor Senator for the ACT and Minister for Government Services as well as Finance, Women, Public Service. A lot of ministerial, cabinet – what do you call them? Portfolios. There. Senator, thanks for your time this afternoon.
SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER, MINISTER FOR FINANCE: No problem.
FINDLAY: Why has Woden been chosen for this clinic?
GALLAGHER: Well, I guess it’s reflecting where some of the other locations were – or are – in Canberra. So, they’re sort of spread across Canberra. But also linked to how we can work with the hospital to work to reduce some of those lower-urgency presentations. So, there was, if you remember – the first walk-in centre was actually in Woden when they first started, just to test whether they worked or not, and then they were broadened out into the community. So, this is really I guess filling a gap between Tuggeranong, Weston, North Canberra, Belconnen, where you have walk-in centres already available.
FINDLAY: For those that aren’t familiar, how do these Urgent Care Clinics work? Because they aim to what, take the pressure off doctors or emergency rooms, right?
GALLAGHER: Yeah, that’s part of their purpose. But it’s also about making sure that people can get access to quality healthcare seven days a week in extended hours – for your kids, who always seem to get sick at about 5.30 on a Friday afternoon – and also that they are bulk-billed. So, this obviously has been an issue in Canberra, where we’ve had low bulk-billing rates, and so, providing an alternative to the hospital, that’s in primary care, that’s with qualified health professionals. Here in the ACT, it’s slightly different to the model in other parts of the country and that’s because we’ve built up a nurse-led approach that works very well for our community. And so, this really extends on that. We’ll create a new one in Woden, but also, we’ve provided extra resources to the existing ones so that they can offer more services.
FINDLAY: So, how are these Urgent Care Clinics different from the nurse-led ones? Is there a nurse-led one in Canberra Hospital, I was hearing today? They’re the ones that they’re different to?
GALLAGHER: Well, no, so the Medicare Urgent Care Clinics – as they operate around the country – are more focused on GP-led care with nurses. But because in the ACT we had a successful model up and running, which was nurse-led, the Commonwealth has partnered with the ACT Government to basically expand and support the extra services through the nurse-led centres. So, that is slightly different to how they operate around the country, but it’s still the same idea, which is lower-urgency patients – so, with a one-off illness or a minor cut or a you know sprained wrist or something like that that happens, that you can go to one of these walk-in centres and be seen with just showing your Medicare card. You don’t have out-of-pocket expenses and they operate seven days a week and extended hours.
FINDLAY: How popular have these Urgent Care Clinics been in the ACT?
GALLAGHER: Well, they’ve been incredibly successful, which is why you’ve seen them grow from one to I think six we have now in the ACT. And so, this would be an extra one and yeah, incredibly successful. I mean, I’ve used them a lot, probably more than I want to, and I know that many of my family and friends do. They’re always well-utilised with people in them. And do you know they offer a type of healthcare that people have struggled to get in the ACT before they existed? Which is, you know, when you need to be seen at seven o’clock at night, you’ve got an option available to you.
FINDLAY: There’ve been – and I know there’s a lot of pull from different parts of the health sector to get funding, but are these Urgent Care Clinics the best way to manage people’s health needs? I know that GPs are asking for more, for co-payments for instance, which might help with preventative care. But what evidence does the Government have that this is the best way to approach healthcare in this way?
GALLAGHER: Sure. And so, I just need to correct myself – we’re growing them from five in the ACT to six, so I just want to correct that. The Urgent Care Network. So, these will be independently evaluated. So, they are a new, in a sense, around the country, they’re a new model of care. We’re a bit more used to them here in the ACT. But based on some data that we’ve got in from some states, we have seen quite a significant reduction in what the hospital would call category four and five presentations to the emergency department, which is the lower level of the seriousness. And they’ve been incredibly well utilised. For example, a third of presentations – and there’s been about 1.2 million presentations since they got up and running – a third of those have been used by children under the age of 15. So again, this was one of the reasons why we wanted to get them going and they are – so, based on some of the feedback and data we’ve seen, they are successful, but we are having them fully evaluated. But I agree, there is not a one solution to some of the pressures the health system is under. That’s why our announcement for $8.5 billion to drive up the bulk-billing rate to 9 out of 10 GP visits bulk-billed by 2030 has been important. It’s why our women’s health announcement about new medications, new contraception, menopause treatments, why that’s important. The endo and pelvic pain clinics are part of it. We’ve got extra investment going into mental health services. So, you’ve got to look at this across the board. The hospital funding agreement, the ACT got $50 million more for that, we’re trying to look at this every which way –
FINDLAY: Yeah, we’re tight on time, so I just want to go back. Correct me if I’m wrong, have the Urgent Care Clinics been reviewed yet to see whether they’re the right way forward?
GALLAGHER: So, there will be an independent evaluation, I think that’s underway now, it hasn’t reported yet, but the point I was making is, based on some of the data we’ve seen already, which has led us to want to expand the network, whilst that evaluation is completed – it will be completed, I imagine, within the next year, and that will inform future decisions.
FINDLAY: You’re on 666 ABC Radio Canberra. I’m James Findlay, it’s 5:17, with you on the line is Senator Katy Gallagher, your Labor Senator for the ACT, and you’re hearing about this new Urgent Care Clinic which will be built for Woden, it’s coming in the next financial year. Hearing from you on the text line, 0467 922 666, I’ll put a couple of questions to you from the text line, Senator. One person asked, please ask the Senator where we’re going to recruit these doctors needed for this new clinic. There’s already a huge shortage of GPs Australia-wide and without GPs, the clinics won’t be able to open.
GALLAGHER: Okay, well here in the ACT, the clinics are nurse-led. So, they provide for advanced practice nurses and nurse practitioners and yeah, so, nurses with a high level of training. There’s a shortage across the board in the health workforce, which is why part of our other investment has been into workforce to drive up the number of GPs and nurses and support them particularly with their training. So, this is a constant challenge for every jurisdiction, but we’ve been able to staff the walk-in centres that are open now and I feel very confident – it’s a different type of care for nurses, and so it attracts nurses that want to work in that primary healthcare setting, perhaps get out of the hospital, but still be independent in their decisionmaking and their scope of practice. So, I think, you know, it’ll always be a challenge, but we haven’t had problems to date.
FINDLAY: Senator, we’ve got to leave it there because there’s been some breaking news this afternoon, but thanks for your time this afternoon.
GALLAGHER: Okay, thanks very much, James.
ENDS
