Lismore Medicare Urgent Care Clinic

People on the north coast have often found it difficult to get same day, easily available medical care for minor illnesses, injuries or infections that might not be life threatening but still require prompt treatment. Many local emergency departments are very busy, and it can be hard to get a GP appointment at short notice, after hours or on weekends.

The Medicare Urgent Care Clinics (UCCs) in Coffs Harbour, Lismore and Tweed Heads were set up to help meet this need. The UCCs are available with no appointment needed and are fully bulk billed, making it easier to see a doctor or nurse when you need one. The staff at the UCC will also let your regular doctor about your visit and treatment, to ensure they can follow up if needed.

The UCCs are open every day of the year, 14 hours per day, reducing the pressure on local hospital services.

To find community facing information, including locations, and opening hours, please visit our Urgent Care Clinic page.

The Medicare UCCs are part of a nationwide network of clinics established by the Australian government, designed to relieve pressure on hospital emergency departments and provide the community with access to free, fast care for urgent but non-life threatening conditions.

Healthy North Coast received funding to deliver 3 UCCs. Suitable providers were identified through a closed, request for proposal process. The process of issuing grants to suitable providers began with a Request of Interest from practices, which then progressed to a Limited Request for Proposal (RFP) issued via Tenderlink based on providers ability to meet the guideline requirements.

Once the RFPs were received HNC entered into a competitive dialogue with the identified capable practices.

The Medicare UCC program is part of a national program, with 137 clinics operating nationwide. The design of the program was conducted at the federal level, with localised delivery in our region conducted according to contracting guidelines. There is also a collection of operational guidance and compliance documents for the provider to ensure consistent service models and delivery across UCCs nationwide.

The service delivered through this program is a bulk billed clinic for people who require access to care quickly but do not need to go to the emergency department, there is also access to radiology and pathology either onsite or easily accessible during the majority of opening hours.

The objectives of the program are to:

• Improve access to same day, affordable care for the north coast community.
• Support the hospital system by reducing demand on local emergency departments including reducing waiting times.
• Support general practice through seeing patients with walk-in, urgent needs, allowing GP practices to focus on routine care, chronic disease management and preventative health.

The intended outcomes are:

• more efficient and less overwhelmed emergency departments, enabling these services to attend to more critical issues.
• less after-hours burden on the health system due to the extended opening hours.
• Increased capacity for primary care due to reduced appointment pressure.