Residents and visitors to the Shoalhaven will have better access to urgent care, with the new Nowra Medicare Urgent Care Clinic (Medicare UCC) now open. 

Following a competitive tender process led by COORDINARE – South Eastern NSW PHN, the Nowra Medicare UCC is now seeing patients at 107 Scenic Drive, Nowra. 

The clinic is open from 8am to 10pm, seven days a week, and offers walk-in care that is fully bulk billed to support local communities, including visitors to the region. 

The Hon. Mark Butler MP, Minister for Health and Aged Care, said the clinic would improve access to urgent care services for the Shoalhaven community. 

“This new clinic will be open seven days a week, for extended hours and most importantly patients will be fully bulk billed. 

Member for Gilmore, Fiona Phillips MP, said the clinic would make a real difference for local families. 

“This federally funded Medicare Urgent Care Clinic will make a real difference for locals by providing convenient, bulk billed urgent care right here in the heart of Nowra,” Ms Phillips said. 

“It will help take pressure off the emergency department and make it easier for locals and visitors to get the urgent care they need.” 

COORDINARE CEO Prudence Buist said the clinic would provide an important alternative for people needing urgent but non-life-threatening care. 

“They will treat sprains and broken bones, cuts, wounds, insect bites, minor ear and eye problems, minor burns and other non-life-threatening issues.” 

Medicare UCCs are being established by the Australian Government to operate independently from local emergency departments to help alleviate pressure on local hospitals and general practices, particularly after hours. 

Based on the latest available data (2023–24), almost 54 per cent of presentations to Shoalhaven Hospital were for non-urgent or semi-urgent care. 

There are now around 130 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics operating across Australia, which have seen more than 2.6 million presentations since the first clinics opened in June 2023. In the region, Medicare UCCs are also operating in Dapto, Wollongong, Shellharbour, Queanbeyan, Bega and Batemans Bay.