Almost 4500 patients have visited the UFS Priority Primary Care Clinic for treatment in its four months of operation, reducing demand at the nearby Ballarat Base Hospital emergency department.
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The Windermere Street clinic opened at the end of October, and extended its hours to 10am to 10pm, seven days a week, from the start of December and patient numbers have grown steadily each month.
In November, 718 patients came through the door with the number almost doubling to 1374 in December, and growing further to 1450 in January.
So far during February they have treated 928 patients.
PRESSURE POINTS
The clinic was established to treat medical conditions considered urgent, but not an emergency, with GPs and nurses treating patients who are triaged on arrival.
UFS primary care operations manager Danielle Trezise said the most common conditions patients are treated for are injury, illness and infections.
"We are seeing a lot of fractures, lacerations, infections, cellulitis, vomiting ... all the things people need to see a doctor about but can't get in to a GP," she said.
A patient survey is underway, but anecdotally many patients say they would have gone to the hospital Emergency Department if the PPCC was not there.
"It's starting to get known in the community and a lot of our referrals now, maybe 60 per cent, are self referrals from people who know we are here and come.
"The rest come from outside, from GPs, pharmacists and from the ED," she said.
Signs in the Ballarat Base Hospital ED inform patients with less serious illness and injuries that the PPCC is a nearby option for care, and hospital staff can also offer referral to the PPCC to those who may benefit.
Coinciding with the opening of the UFS-led Priority Primary Care Centre, the number of category five patients at the ED dropped from 380 to 322 throughout October, November and December according to the latest Victorian Agency for Health Information quarterly Health Services Performance report.
Ms Trezise said weekends and after-hours times tended to be slightly busier at the PPCC because there were no other options for people, but that is exactly why the service was created.
"The high utilisation of the PPCC indicates there is strong demand in the community for this service and we expect this to be the case in a rapidly growing area like Lucas as well," UFS said in a statement.
IN OTHER NEWS
In May 2022, Ballarat MP Catherine King promised a bulk-billed urgent care clinic, to ease pressure on the ED and treat patients with minor injuries and ailments, would be built in Ballarat's rapidly growing west if Labor won the election, but there has been no further news on its progress.
The UFS Priority Primary Care Centre is state funded and was the first of its kind to open in regional Victoria.
Ms Trezise said unlike many clinics battling to attract GPs, the Priority Primary Care Centre had been able to recruit staff.
"We've had some fantastic GPs and doctors join our team. Some are working in urgent care in other places as well but living in Ballarat, and some GPs from other practices have jumped on board because it's a bit different from general practice work they do - it gives them variety and some different medicine so it's quite attractive to them."
She said there were processes in place if patient demand for the PPCC continued to grow, including expanding hours.
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