Hon. Mark Butler MP visits Ipswich Medicare Mental Health Centre and Ipswich Medicare Urgent Care Clinic

In November the PHN and CEO Lucille Chalmers were joined by the Hon. Mark Butler MP – Minister for Health and Aged Care, and the Hon. Shayne Neumann MP for a visit to the Ipswich Medicare Mental Health Centre and the Ipswich Medicare Urgent Care Clinic.

The PHN, in partnership with Open Minds, opened the Ipswich Medicare Mental Health Centre earlier this year. The centre offers immediate, walk-in support for people experiencing distress or crisis and is open Monday to Friday from 10am to 6pm.

The centre uses an ‘open door’ approach and provides welcoming, low-stigma entry to mental health support through assessment and warm referrals to local services.

Since officially opening in May this year, the centre has had increasing engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, stakeholders, and consumers.

The centre also provides co-location with Peachtree Perinatal Mental Health, to respond to increasing perinatal mental needs, and co-location with the Queensland Health Acute Care Team Brief Therapy Service.

The Ipswich Medicare Urgent Care Clinic was opened in August 2023 and provides free, urgent treatment for conditions that aren’t life threatening. Patients are bulk-billed and able to walk in to use the service at Riverlink during extended hours, 7 days a week, including on public holidays.

Since opening in August 2023, the clinic has had more than 12,000 presentations, at an average of 38-51 presentations per day.

Many of these presentations include respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses, UTIs and STIs, infections, fractures, sprains, cuts, abrasions and lacerations, burns, bites and rashes. Urgent care pathways like Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are not intended to replace routine care by a regular or family GP at a general practice, but can provide critical, medical attention within two to 12 hours for those who need it.

With 30% of consumers indicating that they would have otherwise presented to the emergency department, these presentations will continue to be vital in reducing pressure on the Ipswich Hospital Emergency Department, transforming consumer behaviour as an effective coordinated care option for people with urgent non-life-threatening conditions.

These crucial clinics are staffed by nurses, GPs and urgent care physicians like Dr Ajit Bhalla, ForHealth Group Queensland Division's Deputy State Clinical Director and Clinical Head of Urgent Care (pictured with Minister Butler and Hon. Shayne Neumann MP).