A NEW urgent care clinic will open on Monday, well before its scheduled Christmas unwrapping, in a bid to ease pressure on Ballarat's strained emergency departments.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The UFS-led priority primary care centre will be the first of its kind in regional Victoria, boasting one doctor on-site and two experienced triage nurses, to manage lower-category patients and save a wait in the emergency department.
Care is free and available to everyone, even those without a Medicare card, in Windermere Street close to Grampians Health Ballarat Base Hospital.
Grampians Health hospitals chief operating officer Ben Kelly said this was a step in the right direction and, importantly, gave people more choice in accessing the care they needed especially when "we're not out of the woods yet" in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Kelly said Ballarat Base Hospital's emergency department was still attending to more than 50 ambulances each day, on top of others who were presenting to emergency for urgent care.
He added the hospital's benchmark was in treating four out of five patients within four hours, and Ballarat was "no-where near that". The Courier reported in late July that morning waits in the Base emergency department were the longest in the state.
"The last 12 months we've been challenged enormously because of a range of circumstances that relates to insufficient alternatives...this facility goes a long way to ease that, but similarly we've been challenged around staffing," Mr Kelly said.
"We have a view that if we provide choices to our community, they're going to make an appropriate choice for their health needs and this provides another choice. They can choose to come to this facility that can look after them when they need urgent care. Clearly the emergency department is there when there are emergencies."
RELATED NEWS
Mr Kelly praised the "exemplary healthcare" of all Ballarat hospital staff who turned up every day, despite the pandemic risks and in full personal protective equipment, to care for the community - not to mention the strain also felt on community general practitioners.
But they all needed help.
UFS stepped up as a key partner with Grampians Health in the frontline pandemic response, particularly in COVID-19 testing and vaccinations.
The priority care clinic will be able to deal with health concerns such as falls with injuries, cuts, fractures, urinary infections and burns - all needing urgent care but without the need now to go to the emergency department.
UFS primary care operations manager Danielle Trezise said the clinic team would work closely with both the Base emergency department and the nearby UFS 24-hour Supercare pharmacy in Sturt Street, which has a nurse-led model for low category care.
The clinic will follow a triage system, similar to the emergency department, so it will not be first-in-first served.
"The benefit to the community is that they have access to quick care and the benefit to the public health system is that is reduces those lower category patients who don't need to sit and wait in emergency to be seen," Ms Trezise said.
UFS priority primary care centre will initially open from 10am to 8pm on weekdays and 10am to 2pm on Saturdays.
Ms Trezise said UFS was working with council to extend these hours.
Meanwhile, Deakin University is conducting a study on how the clinic can improve Ballarat's emergency department wait times and offer quality care for patients.
Have you tried The Courier's app? It can be downloaded here.
