Media Release: Provider Selected for Murrumba Downs Medicare Urgent Care Clinic

12 October 2023

The Albanese Government is delivering on its commitment to Queenslanders with a provider for the Murrumba Downs Medicare Urgent Care Clinic (Medicare UCC) selected, following an Expression of Interest process.
 
Murrumba Downs Medical & Dental Centre will be established as a Medicare UCC to support the wider community and will start seeing patients from Monday.

The Murrumba Downs Medicare UCC will deliver on the Albanese Government’s commitment to make it easier for people in Queensland to get the urgent treatment they need – from highly qualified doctors and nurses – while taking pressure off the nearby Redcliffe Hospital. 

The Medicare UCC will be open seven days a week, with extended hours and offer walk-in care that is fully bulk billed.

Over 45 per cent of presentations to Redcliffe Hospital are for non-urgent or semi-urgent care.
 
This new clinic is one of 11 Medicare UCCs established across Queensland – located in Bundaberg, Ipswich, Rockhampton, Cairns, South Brisbane, Northern Brisbane, Gold Coast, Redcliffe, Logan, Townsville and Toowoomba.

The Albanese Government will continue to work closely with Primary Health Networks and the Queensland Government to deliver the remaining Medicare UCCs, all of which will open this year.

 
Quotes attributable to Minister Butler:
 
“The Murrumba Downs Medicare UCC will make a big difference to patients who will be able to walk in seven days a week and get free urgent care from a nurse or a doctor.

“The clinic will ease pressure on Redcliffe Hospital, so that its hard-working doctors and nurses can focus higher priority emergencies.

“The Murrumba Downs Medicare UCC is just another way the Government is strengthening Medicare and making it easier to see a doctor.”


 
Quotes attributable to Assistant Minister Chisholm:

“This new Medicare UCC will offer high-quality care for residents in Brisbane’s North who need to see a medical professional for a health issue that is urgent and requires treatment, but is not life-threatening and doesn’t require attending the emergency department.
 
“The Murrumba Downs Medicare UCC will ease pressure on the local emergency department, and be much more convenient for our community – closer to home, at short notice, and free under Medicare.

““As more people choose to call this area home, that means more demand on local hospitals. Our government is committed to delivering the health services that Queensland needs to improve waiting times and protect lives
  
“This is another example of the Albanese Labor Government delivering for Queensland’s rapidly growing suburbs.”