TO EASE pressure on hospitals both the Federal and Tasmanian Governments have established an additional Medicare Urgent Care Clinic (Medicare UCC) in Tasmania, taking the total number of Medicare UCCs to be established in the state to four.
Health Minister Mark Butler said, "Medicare UCCs are just one way the Australian Government is strengthening Medicare.
"Instead of spending hours in an emergency department, local patients will be able to visit a Medicare UCC, be seen by highly trained doctors and nurses, get X-rays or blood tests, and they will be bulk billed."
Premier Rockliff added that "the Tasmanian Government understands the important role that the primary healthcare sector plays in caring for our community and we look forward to seeing the establishment of Medicare Urgent Care Clinics across all regions of Tasmania.
"By providing more affordable, accessible healthcare in the community, we can reduce the number of people needing care coming into an acute hospital setting, relieving some of the demand pressures we are now seeing in our hospitals."
Medicare UCCs will provide bulk-billed care for locals with urgent medical needs over extended hours, seven days a week.
These clinics, to be established in Devonport, Launceston and two in Hobart, could see patients as soon as the middle of the year.
More than 41% of presentations to emergency departments in Tasmania are classified as semi- or non-urgent.
The Medicare UCCs will accept walk-in patients and offer people ways to get affordable medical care at short notice.
Providers are being identified through a tender process, which follows an Expression of Interest that closed earlier this year.
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