The Launceston Medicare Urgent Care Clinic has extended its opening hours, with the change expected to double the number of patients that can be treated.
The federal government has delivered on its promise to expand the clinic’s services, with opening hours now running from 9am to 8pm, a jump from the previous 2pm opening time.
GP Dr Jerome Muir Wilson said the extra hours help address the challenge of turning away patients.
“We’ve seen so many patients and families benefit from coming through the doors,” he said.
“Whether it’s someone at a weekend sporting event that gets injured that can come and get their plaster cast done or someone with some pain during the week.”
Since opening in 2023, the clinic has treated 33,000 patients at an average of 50 per day, making it one of Australia’s busiest urgent care facilities.
With the longer hours, the clinic has also doubled its nursing workforce to meet expected demand.
Dr Muir Wilson said the clinic plays a big part in easing the load on the city’s emergency department.
“The emergency department’s got an incredibly important role to play for really sick people, for heart attacks and car crashes, and is really well designed for that,” he said.
“Urgent care can do a great job of simple fractures, simple lacerations and unwell people and give them some answers.”
Assistant Federal Health Minister Rebecca White said many of the cases seen at the clinic would otherwise end up in the emergency department.
“It’s taking incredible strain off the Launceston Emergency Department with about 50% of presentations to this clinic would have otherwise shown up in the emergency department,” she said.
The expansion is part of a broader federal government plan to roll out 50 new Medicare Urgent Care Clinics nationwide.
Three more clinics are planned for Tasmania in Burnie, Kingston and Sorell.
“We recognise how significant these are and how helpful they’ve been to Tasmanians who’ve needed access to urgent medical care,” White said.
