Doctors cry foul after nurse walk-in centres win urgent care clinic funding
Doctors have accused public nurse-led clinics of “hiding a GP out the back” to secure extra funding as Medicare urgent care clinics.
The Federal Government’s $250 million pledge to fund 50 urgent care clinics was touted as a boost for existing GP practices, who could apply for funding to help them treat minor burns or broken bones outside normal business hours.
But Canberra Health Services, an ACT Government health body, has received in-principle approval to use its five walk-in centres, where nurses and nurse practitioners treated minor ailments for free, as Medicare urgent care clinics.
The walk-in centres were open from 7.30am to 10pm and treated around 300 patients a day for simple fractures, gastroenteritis and respiratory infections, the health service said in consultation paper.
