The Albanese Government is delivering for residents in Mackay with the opening of the Mackay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic.
The new Mackay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, located at 11-13 Peel Street, Mackay is now open extended hours, seven days a week.
No appointment is needed, patients can walk in and all services are bulk billed.
The highly trained doctors and nurses are equipped to treat a range of conditions and injuries that need urgent attention but aren't life threatening, including cuts, viral infections, or a sprained ankle.
The Mackay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic will ease pressure on the busy the Mackay Base Hospital emergency department, where around 26 per cent of presentations in 2024-25 were for semi-urgent or non-urgent conditions.
The clinic has joined the existing network of 23 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics across Queensland with a further two to be established across the state.
This is part of the Albanese Government's commitment to deliver more Medicare Urgent Care Clinics across the country with 4 out of 5 Australians to live within a 20 minute drive from their local clinic.
Labor's Medicare Urgent Care Clinics have already seen already seen more than 2.6 million presentations since the first sites opened in June 2023. This includes over 529,200 presentations to the existing Queensland Medicare Urgent Care Clinics.
Over one in four of these were patients aged under 15 years old, more than one in four were on weekends, and one in four were weekday after hours visits (at or after 5pm).
The Mackay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic is commissioned by Northern Queensland Primary Health Network.
Quotes attributable to Minister Butler:
"The Mackay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic is a game changer for families in the Mackay region.
"The Mackay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic will ease pressure on the emergency department at Mackay Base Hospital and free up staff at the hospital to provide care to people with more serious conditions.
"This clinic is a key part of the Albanese Government's commitment to strengthen Medicare and make health care more accessible and affordable."
Quotes attributable to Assistant Minister McBride:
"More than 529,000 people have accessed care at one of our Medicare Urgent Care Clinics across Queensland.
"The new Mackay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic will provide greater access to urgent care, 7 days a week, over extended hours.
"The Albanese Labor Government is strengthening Medicare by delivering more fully bulk-billed healthcare for people in rural and regional communities."
Quotes attributable to Senator Nita Green:
"The Albanese Labor Government promised the people of Mackay that we would open a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic and we have delivered.
"The Mackay Medicare UCC will ensure the people of Mackay can get the urgent care they need, when they need, with just their Medicare cards - all while reliving pressure on the local ED.
"This is what delivering for regional Queensland looks like."
