Medicare urgent care clinic opens in Carlton

Inner-city locals now have greater access to the healthcare they need with the opening of the Inner Melbourne Medicare Urgent Care Clinic (Medicare UCC).

The Carlton Medical and Urgent Care Clinic has been established as the Inner Melbourne Medicare UCC and started seeing patients from December 15 at 2/221 Drummond St, Carlton.

The new clinic, made possible thanks to the Federal Government, will be open for extended hours, seven days a week, and offer walk-in care that is fully bulk billed.

This Medicare UCC has been established in Carlton to allow locals to get the urgent treatment they need from highly qualified doctors and nurses while taking pressure off the nearby Royal Melbourne Hospital.

What is the difference between urgent and emergency care?

More than a third of presentations to the Royal Melbourne Hospital are for non-urgent or semi-urgent care, and these sorts of patients will now be able to alternatively present to this new Medicare UCC.

While the emergency room is for serious health issues which may be considered a medical emergency, urgent care is for injuries or illnesses that are non-life-threatening.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said the Carlton clinic would mean people in the community who needed urgent but not acute care could get it quickly even if it was outside standard hours, and all they’d need was their Medicare card.

“This clinic will ease pressure on the Royal Melbourne Hospital, allowing them to concentrate on higher priority emergencies,” Minister Butler said.

“The Albanese Government is committed to strengthening Medicare and making it easier and cheaper to get quality healthcare, by tripling the bulk billing incentive and making medicines cheaper.”

The clinic was officially unveiled on December 19 by Assistant Minister for Health Ged Kearney and Senator Jess Walsh.

“Whether it’s a minor burn, cut or infection, this Medicare UCC is going to make a big difference for families in Melbourne’s inner-north,” Ged Kearney said.

“As a nurse, I would see families spending hours waiting in the ED for minor injuries just because they had nowhere else to go. Not only will this UCC make it easier for Melburnians to get the care they need but it will ease pressure on hospitals.”

The Inner Melbourne clinic will join nine clinics already operational in Victoria located in Ballarat, Frankston, Geelong, Heidelberg, Narre Warren, Shepparton, Werribee, South Melbourne, and Sunbury.

The Australian Government has said it would continue to work closely with the Victorian Government and Primary Health Networks to support Medicare UCCs in Victoria. 

Photography by Hanna Komissarova.