More than 1.5 million Australians have received free, urgent care at a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, without waiting hours in a busy hospital emergency department, saving the health system an estimated $254 million in avoided hospital visits.
The Albanese Labor Government will open another 50 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics in 2025-26, expanding the network to 137 clinics and providing free care to around 2 million Australians each year.
An estimated 4 in 5 Australians will live within a 20-minute drive of an Urgent Care Clinic, once all of Labor's clinics are operating.
The interim report of the evaluation of Medicare Urgent Care Clinics found that nearly half of all patients who attended a clinic would have gone to the hospital emergency department if the Urgent Care Clinic wasn't available.
The report found the average hospital visit costs $616 to deliver - more than double the $246 that the average Urgent Care Clinic visit costs.
Every time a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic helps someone to avoid an unnecessary trip to hospital, an Australian gets free urgent care and the health system saves $368 a presentation.
The interim report also found people wait for half as long to be treated at an Urgent Care Clinic as they would in a hospital emergency department and are almost three times more likely to be seen within the first 60 minutes.
Quotes attributable to Minister Butler:
"Medicare Urgent Care Clinics have reached a new milestone, with over 1.5 million Australians getting free urgent care, without waiting hours in a hospital emergency department.
"Over 1.5 million Australians have cast a vote of confidence in Labor's Urgent Care Clinics.
"In two short years, Medicare Urgent Care Clinics have become a vital part of Australia's health system and clocked up 1.5 million free visits.
"They're starting to take the pressure off hospitals and patients, delivering fully bulk billed care quickly and with no appointment needed.
"By July next year, another 50 Urgent Care Clinics will open their doors to patients, and 4 in 5 Australians will live within a 20-minute drive of a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic."
