The Australian Government announced the commitment to establish 50 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics (UCCs) across Australia in the October 2022-23 budget. Medicare UCCs will ease pressure on hospitals and give families more options to see a healthcare professional when they have an urgent, but not life threatening, need for care and are unable to access their usual GP or other care provider.

Medicare UCCs aim to improve access to urgent care in a non-hospital setting, particularly for vulnerable groups by providing patients with acute, episodic care for urgent conditions that are not immediately life threatening.

Medicare UCCs will support people to connect to pathways of care within the broader health system. This will include ensuring referrals back to the patient's regular GP or other care provider to facilitate continuity of care. All referral pathways into and out of the Medicare UCC should be driven by local need and developed in consultation with relevant stakeholders, to ensure connectivity to existing community health services, GPs, non-government sector, state and territory funded services, hospital and ambulatory services and other support services.