Labor seems to be convinced they are a “good thing”!
Here is the latest announcement…..
Labor vows $644m for additional 50 urgent care clinics if re-elected
By Paul Sakkal
March 1, 2025 — 10.30pm
Dozens more urgent care clinics will be built by the Albanese government if it is re-elected at the coming election, in a $644 million expansion of a scheme Labor regards as a big vote-winner.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to call an election soon – with April 12 firming as a probable date – and on Sunday will add another plank to his health-focused agenda, taking Labor’s Medicare pledges over recent weeks to almost $10 billion.
Spending on the suburban and regional clinics, which Labor marginal seat MPs say have been politically popular as alternatives to hospitals, is also designed to sharpen Labor’s contrast with Peter Dutton, whom it is desperate to frame as a risk to public health funding ahead of what looms as a tight election.
Albanese said the 50 extra clinics would build on the 87 already opened this term, and that the new facilities would be constructed in 2025-26.
“Four in five Australians will live within a 20-minute drive of a bulk-billed Medicare urgent care clinic once all Labor’s clinics are open,” Albanese said in a written statement.
Health Minister Mark Butler said: “You can’t trust [the Coalition] to keep them open”, setting up another test for Dutton after the opposition immediately backed Labor’s $8.5 billion free GP pledge last Sunday despite the budget being in structural deficit.
The adoption of such a big spending item displayed the political sensitivity of healthcare and the opposition’s eagerness to neutralise Labor’s attack, which carries echoes of the 2016 “Mediscare” campaign waged against Malcolm Turnbull. The line has particular potential to cut through because Peter Dutton was health minister when the Abbott government tried to create a GP co-payment.
Two senior opposition sources, not permitted to talk openly about shadow cabinet, said Dutton was preparing an expensive health policy of his own, making it easier to support Labor’s spending as the opposition struggles to find savings to bolster its budget bottom line. The $644 million clinic pitch was funded in December’s mid-year budget update, the government confirmed.
It is unclear, however, if the opposition will support the urgent care investment. The information contained in this story was provided by the government on an embargoed basis that prohibits questions being asked of non-government parties.
While the precise locations are yet to be finalised, 14 clinics would be opened in NSW at Bathurst, Bega, Burwood, Chatswood, Dee Why, Green Valley and surrounds, Maitland, Marrickville, Nowra, Rouse Hill, Shellharbour, Terrigal, Tweed Valley and Windsor.
Twelve would be built in Victoria at Bayside, Clifton Hill, Coburg, Diamond Creek and surrounds, Lilydale, Pakenham, Somerville, Stonnington, Sunshine, Torquay, Warrnambool and Warragul.
And in Queensland there would be new sites at Brisbane, Buderim, Burpengary, Cairns, Caloundra, Capalaba, Carindale, Gladstone, Greenslopes and surrounds, and Mackay.
Health and aged care is rated as the top issue for 7 per cent of voters, according to the latest Resolve Political Monitor, well behind the cost of living (53 per cent), but ahead of topics such as immigration (4 per cent) and similar to crime (9 per cent).
This masthead reported on January 1 that Labor would put bulk-billing and urgent care clinics at the centre of its campaign pitch.
Labor had a six-point lead on the Coalition on health policy in the Resolve poll in April last year, but this has turned into a three-point deficit as ratings of Labor’s performance in all areas have trended downward along with its level of core political support amid an inflation crisis.
Here is the link:
It is interesting that Labor is increasingly not seen as totally credible with health service delivery as indicated in the article above – but it is hard to draw much from these findings. I am sure things will firm up when the election is called.
Recent commentary is not all that keen on the UCCs.
07 February 2025
Urgent Care Clinics aren’t showing their worth
By
Medicare Urgent Care Clinics and the triple bulk billing incentives were central to the government’s campaign to support the health system. But are they working?
Potentially avoidable GP-type presentations to ED aren’t going down, but bulk billing rates are, according to this year’s Report on Government Services.
The federal government began rolling out Medicare Urgent Care Clinics from July 2023 , alongside a promise that they would ease the pressure on emergency departments.
But according to the 2025 Report on Government Services, released last night, GP-type presentations to EDs remained largely stagnant at 2.8 million between 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Potentially avoidable GP-type presentation to EDs had remained fairly consistent since 2014-15 but did rise to 3 million and 3.1 million during covid in 2021-22 and 2020-21 respectively.
Speaking to The Medical Republic, RACGP president Dr Michael Wright said that the data showed the MUCCs weren’t yet showing their worth.
“Importantly, [the data] show that the preventable hospitalisations have been pretty stable for the last decade, despite talk that there is increasing pressure on hospitals, these data don’t tend to reflect that,” he said.
“It also shows that the UCCs to date haven’t had an impact either.”
AMA president Dr Danielle McMullen agreed.
“It shows that UCCs haven’t necessarily reduced the demand on hospitals, and also that it’s really important that we don’t blame patients for where to go,” she told TMR
“Patients don’t always know what’s an emergency and what’s not.
“What we should be working together on is how to support patients to access the right care at the right time, and we know that investing in general practice to provide more urgent appointments and acute care within mainstream general practice helps maintain that continuity of care.
“We think would be a better investment than more urgent care centers.”
In late 2023, the government also introduced the triple bulk billing incentive.
This measure was explicitly targeted toward concession card holders and children, but there was hope that the extra funding would allow GPs to lower private fees across the board.
This has not borne out.
The national total expenditure per person on general practice did increase in real terms, from $440 in 2022-23 to $452 per person in 2023-24, taking inflation into account.
This increase did not align with an overall drop in costs to patients or an overall increase in bulk billing.
Dr Wright said the small increase in per person funding “was better than a decrease” but it followed a considerable drop over recent years, with 2022-23 seeing the lowest per-person expenditure for a decade.
“There is a small increase here, and that reflects the impact of the tripling of the bulk billing incentives which did help some GPs to continue to bulk bill more concession card holders and pensioners, but we need more than those incentives to support access to care to all Australians,” he said.
“We definitely need to do a lot more to reinvest in Medicare and provide greater support for general practice.
“All Australians deserve affordable access to general practice.”
Despite the triple bulk billing injection, bulk billing has continued to decline overall.
In 2023-24, 47.7% of patients were fully bulk billed, a decrease from 51.7% in 2022-23.
“It just shows that we need to focus not only on supporting bulk billing, but we also need to decrease out of pocket costs for patients who aren’t being bulk billed. That requires a more comprehensive investment in Medicare rebates,” said Dr Wright.
Over 2023-24, the average out-of-pocket costs for a patient to see a GP sat at $45, preceded allied health, $68, and specialists, $117.
High costs caused 8.8% of respondents who needed to see a GP to delay or forgo appointments, the highest proportion since 2014-15.
This continued a year-on-year increase since 2020-21, when the proportion was 2.4%.
Around 8% of respondents delayed filling or did not fill a prescription due to costs, which was also the highest proportion recorded since 2014-15, continuing a year-by-year increase from 4.4% in 2020-21.
In total over the last financial year, 77.3% of non-referred GP services were bulk billed, and 28.7% of specialist services.
In terms of the workforce, the number of GPs per 100,000 people dropped by almost 5% between 2022 and 2023.
It now sits at 109.7, leaving 39,449 GPs in total across the nation, 29,215 of whom are on a full-time equivalent basis.
“Nationally in 2023, the number of FTE GPs per 100,000 people decreased as remoteness increased (111.8 GPs per 100,000 people in major cities compared to 87.3 GPs per 100,000 people in outer regional, remote and very remote areas),” read the report.
Dr Wright said this showed the need for more GPs in communities and across Australia.
“It’s a concern that the GP numbers are dropping, when we’ve never needed [GPs] more… with our aging population, a growing population, more people living with chronic health conditions,” he said.
“We really need to increase access to GP services, which involves training more GPs, and we need to make care more affordable for patients, and that involves increasing the medical Medicare rebates.”
In terms of workforce sustainability, in 2023 26.6% of full time GPs were aged 60 years or older, compared to 1.5% who were less than 30 years of age.
“This is the equal highest proportion of GPs aged 60 years or older and the equal lowest proportion of GPs who were less than 30 years old across the reported nine-year time series (equal with 2022),” read the report.
The proportion of GPs who exited the GP workforce in 2023 was 1.4% nationally.
Here is the link:
https://www.medicalrepublic.com.au/urgent-care-clinics-arent-showing-their-worth/114334
It looks like it is not yet totally clear just what value will flow from the UCCs. While politically they sound good we have yet to see them in place for long enough to know a final verdict on how well they work.
As people get used to them clearer answers may emerge – but not before the election I am pretty sure!
David.
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