Gold Coasters will soon have access to even more health care, with the Federal Government announcing a second Medicare urgent care clinic is set to open in the city’s CBD.
The clinic will be established in Southport and will be awarded to an existing medical centre in the suburb, with the provider to be chosen through an expression of interest process.
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said the centre will give locals greater access to free urgent care, while also taking the heat off our overwhelmed emergency departments.
“Southport has been chosen, in close consultation with the Queensland Government, and will improve access to care for urgent, non-life threatening, conditions,” Minister Butler said.
“Importantly, it will ease pressure on the Gold Coast University Hospital”.
The clinic will be the second to open its doors on the Gold Coast following the opening of the Oxenford facility last year.
They’re among the 58 existing Urgent Care Clinics across the whole state, which have already seen more than 400,000 presentations, most of those children aged under 15 years old.
“Almost half of the presentations to Medicare Urgent Care Clinics in Queensland have been outside standard business hours, which means the clinics are fulfilling an important gap in services across extended hours and over the weekend,” Minister Butler said.
“A second Urgent Care Clinic for the Gold Coast, at Southport, will mean more Queenslanders can access high quality urgent care without having to wait in a hospital emergency department”.
Queensland’s Health Minister Shannon Fentiman also welcomed the opening of another bulk-billed urgent care clinic in the city.
“The Gold Coast University Hospital is home to one of the busiest Emergency Departments in the entire country,” she said.
“That’s why this second Medicare Urgent Care Clinic on the Gold Coast is so important.
“They’re providing locals with more free, high-quality healthcare options closer to home, while also taking pressure on our very busy Emergency Departments.”
The Government is hoping to have the clinic up and running by the end of 2024.
