Non-life threatening injuries will be treated without long hospital queues under a Labor trial aimed at freeing up under-pressure emergency department doctors.
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Continuing its election campaign health blitz on Wednesday, Labor will commit $135 million towards a trial Medicare Urgent Care Clinics to ease pressure on Australia's groaning hospital system.
Fifty centres would treat patients with emergency, but less serious injuries - like broken bones, wounds needing stitches, and minor burns - to allow emergency departments to focus on saving lives.
They would be located at GP services and community health care centres in each state and territory, open daily between 8am and 10pm. Care would be free at the point of service, bulk-billed via Medicare.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese has spent the opening days of the campaign making a series of health announcement, pledging to rectify systemic flaws laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"These clinics are a key part of Labor's plan to strengthen Medicare by making it easier to see a doctor," he said.
"Medicare Urgent Care Clinics will take the pressure off emergency departments, so they can concentrate on saving lives."
It came after Labor pledged to restore over-the-phone mental health support in regional areas via Medicare on Tuesday, having made a $2.5 billion outlay on aged care the centrepiece of its budget reply.
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Labor health spokesman Mark Butler described the centres as a "practical, tangible" example of Labor's commitment to make care easily accessible for families.
"Medicare is the bedrock of our health system and by using it to help take the pressure off hospital emergency departments we can make the whole system stronger," he said.
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas became the first opposition leader to unseat an Australian government since COVID-19 began, pledging to fix the state's buckling health system.
Labor's plan harks back to Kevin Rudd's 2007 campaign, when the soon-to-be prime minister promised over $200 million to create 35 'GP super clinics' - providing after hours consultation from doctors and specialists.
Just one was in operation by 2009.
Finn McHugh
Finn McHugh has been federal political reporter for The Canberra Times since July 2021. He joined the Canberra Press Gallery in 2019 where he was executive producer of Sky News's AM Agenda, before joining NCA NewsWire as a federal political reporter. He has previously interned at the Kuwait Times.
Finn McHugh has been federal political reporter for The Canberra Times since July 2021. He joined the Canberra Press Gallery in 2019 where he was executive producer of Sky News's AM Agenda, before joining NCA NewsWire as a federal political reporter. He has previously interned at the Kuwait Times.
