The proposal would establish a trial of 50 urgent care clinics (clinics) with the objective of delivering services in a primary care or community health setting that would generally otherwise be performed in an emergency department.

Existing general practice or community health centres would be selected through a competitive tender process. Selected practices and health centres would receive capital and operating funding to support them in staying open for extended hours and to increase staffing numbers.

• Clinics would be located within the general vicinity of hospital emergency departments.
• Funding of $12.5 million would be available in 2023-24 for clinics to undertake capital upgrades.
• Funding of $37.5 million per year would be available in 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 for operational costs.
  • The amount of operational funding provided to individual clinics would be determined by factors such as size and expected level of activity.
• Clinics would be required to open every day of the year for a minimum of 14 hours (8am to 10pm).
• Patients attending these clinics would be entitled to receive Medicare benefits for the services provided to them.
  • A condition for being selected as an urgent care clinic is that all Medicare services provided by the clinic, that may otherwise have been provided in an emergency department, must be bulk billed.

Departmental funding of $10.6 million over 3 years would be provided to administer the program with $4.2 million for 2023-24 and $3.2 million per year for 2024-25 and 2025-26.

Clinics would be expected to commence operating from 1 July 2023 and funding for clinics would cease on 30 June 2026.