Ali France (Dickson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. How is the Albanese Labor government making it easier for Australians to see a doctor when they need urgent care? How are urgent care clinics helping to strengthen Medicare after a decade of cuts and neglect?

Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, you could not find a better advocate for Medicare than the member for Dickson. She understands better than most just how important a high-quality universal health insurance system is for Australia and its people. That's why she campaigned so hard for more bulk-billing, for more doctors and nurses, for cheaper medicines and, of course, for more urgent care options.

Last week, yet again, she hosted the Prime Minister at the Murrumba Downs Medicare urgent care clinic. He loves it up there. I'm not quite sure how many times he's been. It's a lot.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Three.

Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Three times. And what's not to love? This is a big, busy general practice, which, since our investment on 1 November, is now 100 per cent bulk-billing. It's co-located with this terrific urgent care clinic, which has now seen almost 35,000 patients from the member for Dickson's community, taking pressure off the emergency department at the Redcliffe Hospital and delivering really high-quality urgent care. I go to Google reviews to just get some sense of that quality service people are getting. Sam, for example, said:

Came here—

that's the Murrumba Downs Medicare urgent care clinic—

after waiting for help in the emergency room for over 4hrs—

either Redcliffe or Caboolture, I suspect—

… I was seen and taken care of. The staff are lovely and the doctor was amazing and made me feel comfortable the whole time. Would recommend 100%.

This is just one of 135 Medicare urgent care clinics that are now open and operating. Two more will be open in coming weeks—Caloundra, on the Sunshine Coast, and Darwin is due to open in the next couple of weeks—rounding out our network of 137. They've already seen about three million Australian patients. When they're fully up and running, they'll see two million a year, half of whom tell us they would otherwise have gone to the local hospital emergency department, so it's taking that pressure off our busy hospital system. They're open seven days a week. They're available extended hours. They're seeing lots of kids who are suffering sports injuries or getting sick quickly. And, importantly for us, they are fully bulk-billed.

This is still a new model for Australia. After we introduced it, it's only been up and running for three years, but we know it is making a huge difference to patients and to our hospital system, and that's why the budget delivered tonight locks in urgent care as part of Australia's Medicare system forever. As the Prime Minister has said, $1.8 billion over five years to lock this thing into our Medicare system is just another investment in our commitment to deliver a stronger Medicare. (Time expired)