Medicare Urgent Care Clinics: Doubled access, increased care coordination 

The Medicare Urgent Care Clinic program has continued to grow, marked by the commissioning of the Oxley Urgent Care Clinic in December 2024, joining the Logan (Browns Plains) and South Brisbane clinics.

Collectively, the 3 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics doubled service delivery this year, providing bulk-billed, accessible urgent care that helps people avoid long waits in hospital emergency departments for non-life-threatening health conditions.

This year, Medicare Urgent Care Clinics delivered:

• 39,597 episodes of urgent care (doubled from 19,790 last year) 
• 21,791 episodes of care to people from priority population groups* (nearly doubled from 10,997 recorded last year) 
• 100% of discharge summaries shared with usual GP^* (compared to 74% last year) 
• 94% patient satisfaction rate (improved from 83% last year) 

^*Nearly half of all episodes of care (45%) were provided to patients with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, First Nations peoples, older persons, people with disability and non-Medicare eligible patients. This demonstrates the clinics are reaching people who often face barriers accessing timely care.

Medicare Mental Health Centres: Free, walk-in support when people need it 

We opened 2 Medicare Mental Health Centres in Logan (November 2024) and Redlands (December 2024), removing cost and wait-time barriers that can prevent people from seeking mental health support in the moments it is needed. The walk-in model of care provides direct connection to supports, proving transformative for people who otherwise may have been discouraged from seeking mental health help.

Since opening, the Medicare Mental Health Centres have:

• received more than 2,300 referrals for service
• recorded more than 3,500 service contacts
• operated at full capacity, demonstrating substantial previously unmet need.

Service features have been co-designed with local communities for safety and inclusion:

• Peer workers in teams reduce stigma and create welcoming environments. Someone who’s lived through mental health challenges greeting people as they arrive fundamentally changes the tone and reduces fear.
• First Nations community engagement roles ensure cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who may have experienced discrimination or cultural unsafety in mainstream mental health services.
• Connection to ongoing support rather than just crisis intervention—centres help people establish sustainable mental health care pathways, not just respond to immediate crises.

Care when it's needed: One person's story of access to free, walk-in mental health care during their ‘windows of readiness’

One Logan centre guest experiencing homelessness, substance use challenges and mental health crisis arrived with high distress and suicidal ideation. Over 4 months of walk-in support—attending when they felt able, without rigid appointment schedules—they: 

• secured a Mental Health Care Plan 
• connected with an ongoing psychologist 
• achieved stable employment 
• found stable housing. 

This reflects what becomes possible when access barriers are removed. Walk-in availability meant this person could access support during their ‘windows of readiness’, rather than being turned away because they didn't have an appointment or couldn't afford the fees.

Refugee Occupational Therapy: Removing barriers to NDIS access

Many people from refugee and asylum-seeker backgrounds need functional capacity assessments for NDIS access or disability supports, but assessments cost around $2,000—far beyond reach for newly arrived families on income support. This left GPs unable to connect patients to the support they clearly needed.

We funded the Mater Refugee and Asylum Seeker Occupational Therapy Program to become the first free functional-assessment service in our region.

In just 7 months of operation there were: 

• over 250 interventions addressing functional impairment and fall risk 
• 46 Medical Aid Subsidy Scheme applications securing wheelchairs, walkers, shower chairs, hospital beds 
• 10 NDIS Functional Capacity Assessments enabling access to NDIS supports 
• 7 home modifications assessed and implemented 
• 27 general practices referring patients.

Over 90% of clients assessed were at risk of falls. One in 5 were at risk of hospitalisation without timely intervention. Early occupational therapy intervention prevented adverse outcomes such as falls leading to fractures, hospitalisations, loss of independence.