A further 50 new urgent care clinics would open around the country under a $644 million election promise from federal Labor.
The new network of urgent care clinics was central to Labor’s last election campaign, and Labor is now promising to expand the existing 87-clinic network if re-elected.
The clinics offer only bulk-billed consults and operate on a walk-in basis.
They are designed to treat very minor injuries and illnesses, such as cuts, sprains, minor burns and respiratory illnesses, with the aim of taking pressure off hospital emergency departments.
Health has been the focus of Labor’s election commitments so far, with this $644 million promise coming on top of the $8.5 billion pledged to lift bulk-billing rates last weekend.
Labor is promising to have all 50 new clinics open before the middle of 2026.
Labor says 80 per cent of Australians will soon live within a short drive of an urgent care clinic. (ABC Wide Bay: Lucy Loram)
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said once they opened, 80 per cent of Australians would live within 20 minutes of an urgent care clinic.
“Whether your family needs urgent or ongoing health care, under Labor, Medicare will be there for all Australians, in every community,” he said.
“Four in five Australians will live within a 20-minute drive of a bulk-billed Medicare Urgent Care Clinic once all Labor’s clinics are open.”
Labor is opting to expand the network for the second time before an independent review of how the centres are performing is complete. That is now expected to be next year.
Doctors’ groups such as the Australian Medical Association have previously been critical of moves to expand the urgent care clinic network without fully evaluating their performance first.
A spokesperson for Health Minister Mark Butler said the health department constantly collected insights and evidence for the clinics.
NSW to get most centres
The opposition also plans to expand urgent care clinics across Australia. (ABC Wide Bay: Lucy Loram)
Labor has already outlined where it wants to open the new clinics, with the vast bulk to be located in the three most populous states.
Fourteen would open in New South Wales, 12 in Victoria and 10 in Queensland.
Of the remaining 14, six would be located in Western Australia, three each in Tasmania and South Australia, and one in the ACT.
Mr Butler has accused the opposition of wanting to “close every single one” of the existing urgent care clinics, pointing to comments criticising increases in government spending.
But the Coalition has been committing to establishing urgent care centres of its own, including announcing last week that it would open one in Maitland, near Newcastle.
Announcing the Maitland commitment, Shadow Health Minister Anne Ruston said the Coalition would “deliver urgent care clinics as they were intended — focused on relieving pressure on local hospitals and providing real access to bulk-billed urgent health care”.
