The long-awaited Medicare Urgent Care Clinic for Nowra is set to open next month, following an announcement at the centre’s future site last Thursday.

Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles, Health Minister Mark Butler and Federal Member for Gilmore Fiona Phillips joined Grand Pacific Health representatives at 107 Scenic Drive to confirm the provider and outline what the community can expect when the doors open.

The clinic will operate 8am to 10pm, seven days a week, offering fully bulk-billed care for non-life-threatening injuries and illnesses.

As the 24th Medicare Urgent Care Clinic in NSW, it will join a national network of more than 90 clinics that have already seen over 2.2 million presentations since the program began in the first term of the Albanese government.

Marles said the Nowra clinic will make an immediate difference for local families.

“Right now, the closest urgent care clinic is about an hour away – so this really fills a need,” he said.

“At Shoalhaven Memorial Hospital, 55 per cent of ED presentations are semi-urgent or non-urgent. This service will relieve that burden and help people receive treatment far more quickly.”

Member for Gilmore Fiona Phillips said the announcement delivers on a major election commitment – one she has consistently heard strong community support for.

“This was an election commitment that I made, and it was so popular,” she said.

“People have been asking me for months, Where’s it going to be? When is it going to open? Now we know – and it’s ahead of schedule, which is fantastic.”

Phillips said the clinic will help families who currently face long waits for care.

“I met a mum in the hospital car park who told me there was a five-hour wait in ED. Her child needed urgent attention, but it wasn’t an emergency – so it could have been treated in the medicare urgent care clinic.”

The new centre will also help strengthen the local health workforce.

Phillips noted the role of paramedics working in urgent care clinics across the state to support nurses, as well as federal investment in growing the regional medical workforce.

“At the University of Wollongong Shoalhaven campus, we’ve brought in rural end-to-end training because we know the more doctors we train locally, the more likely they are to stay,” she said.

“We’ve just announced additional places for the University of Wollongong to train doctors as well.”

Like many others in Nowra, Phillips said she is eager to see the community begin using the service.

“I can’t wait until it’s open for people to utilise,” she said.

“We have fantastic doctors and nurses at Shoalhaven Hospital, but this is a way we can take pressure off the ED and provide a fully bulk-billed service for urgent care.”

The Nowra Medicare Urgent Care Clinic is expected to open on 19 January, offering walk-in care to anyone with a Medicare card.