In a move to alleviate some pressure on the neighbouring hospital, a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic (UCC) is now open in Maitland.
Located at Unit 8/555 High Street, the much-needed health facility will be operational seven days a week, with extended hours.
No appointment is required, patients can walk in and all services are bulk-billed.
“At the busy Maitland Hospital, about 46% of presentations in 2023/24 were for semi-urgent or non-urgent conditions,” Paterson MP Meryl Swanson said.
“This UCC will free up staff at Metford and enable them to oversee people with more serious conditions.
“I believe it’s a game-changer for families in the region.”
The highly-trained doctors and nurses are equipped to treat a range of conditions and injuries that need urgent attention but aren’t life-threatening, including cuts, viral infections or a sprained ankle.
Maitland will also join the existing network of UCCs across NSW with further centres to be established across the state.
“Earlier this year, my community made it clear – through a petition – that this is exactly what Maitland wanted – better access to urgent care, close to home,” Ms Swanson said.
“Everyone’s spoken… and now we’re delivering with a UCC right here in town.
“This is about putting people first.
“Seven-day, fully bulk-billed urgent care will give locals more options.”
It’s all part of the Australian Government’s commitment to deliver more Medicare Urgent Care Clinics across the country with four-out-of-five Australians to live within a 20-minute drive from their local GP.
The UCCs have already seen more than 2.2 million presentations since the first sites opened in June 2023, including 446,300 to NSW UCCs.
Over one in four of these were patients aged under 15 years old, more than one in four were on weekends, and above one in five were weekday after hours visits (at or after 5pm).
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