Pressure on Logan Hospital’s emergency department has reportedly eased thanks to the recently established urgent care clinic at Browns Plains.
Federal health minister Mark Butler on Tuesday said that non-urgent and semi-urgent presentations at the hospital were down 10 per cent since the clinic opened last August.
“The last few weeks are sometimes the busiest period in emergency departments,” Mr Butler said.
“In the peak festive season where kids aren’t at school, many people aren’t at work, a lot of general practices are closed for the Christmas and New Year period, you do see a big spike in presentations to hospital emergency departments.
“And we’ve seen that as well at urgent care clinics, which shows again just how important this model of care is.”
The Browns Plains clinic is open extended hours, seven days a week, and was designed to alleviate pressure on local hospitals.
It is one of 11 in Queensland, with almost 60 across the country.
But the federal government, which established the clinics, has faced scrutiny for not fully meeting its commitment.
The government last year promised the clinics would be open from 8am to 10pm seven days a week.
But so far 44 of the 58 clinics, including the one in Logan, have not been open the promised hours.
“Now they might not be operating fully into the evening of 10pm, which was the commitment we made,” Mr Butler said.
“But they are operating extended hours, seven days a week.”
Mr Butler said staff shortages were to blame.
“… not every one of those clinics has been able to click their fingers and employ exactly the number of nurses and doctors that they need to deliver the commitment on that full span of hours,” he said.
“But we’re working very closely with every single one of those clinics to do that.”
Before August last year, non-urgent and semi-urgent cases made up more than 22 per cent of Logan Hospital’s emergency department presentations.
