THE new Beeliar Medicare Urgent Care Clinic at the Lagoon Medical Centre opened on November 15, 2023.

The Beeliar Medicare UCC is part of the Albanese government’s pledge to ease pressure on hospitals by providing alternative treatment for ailments that aren’t life-threatening.

Federal Fremantle MP Josh Wilson said the clinic would mean people who needed urgent but not acute care could get it quickly even outside standard hours.

• PM Anthony Albanese and MP Josh Wilson meet Beeliar’s Dorothy as the suburb’s new Medicare Urgent Care Clinic opens.

“All they’ll need is their Medicare card,” Mr Wilson said.

“The Medicare UCC will ease pressure on local EDs and be much more convenient for our communities – closer to home, can be accessed at short notice, and bulk billed under Medicare.”

Lagoon’s existing general practice will still be mixed billing, according to a policy introduced in February because “the rebate we receive from Medicare does not cover the operational costs of the practice”, but the Medicare UCC side will be completely bulk billed.

The Chook wanted to know how patients could be assured of which stream they’d be in before being seen, and while we didn’t get a call back from Lagoon, the federal Department of Health and Aged Care said they’d have to abide by nationally agreed triage protocols.

“Where a condition is more appropriately managed by the patient’s usual primary care provider, the Medicare UCC will have protocols in place to support local referral pathways or provide alternative care options.”