Chief Minister and Minister for Health Katy Gallagher has released new figures that show a strong take-up of services at the new Belconnen and Tuggeranong nurse-led Walk-in Centres, with 9310 presentations since their opening in June 2014. This is compared with 5,737 presentations for the same date range in 2013 at Canberra Hospital Walk-in-Centre.
“Canberrans have embraced the new locations for the popular nurse-led walk-in centres in Belconnen and Tuggeranong with almost twice as many people visiting the new centres than was recorded at the Canberra Hospital location in the same months in 2013,” the Chief Minister said.
“The ACT Government promised at the last election to open two new Walk-in Centres in Belconnen and Tuggeranong and it is great to see that Canberrans are now enjoying the convenience that these new locations can provide closer to their homes or work.”
The Walk-in Centre in the Tuggeranong Town Centre saw 5546 presentations between 26 June 2014 and 30 September 2014 which is an average of 57 patients per day. The highest number of presentations since opening at Tuggeranong was 87 on Monday 18 August 2014.
The Belconnen Walk-in Centre (WiC) has seen 4040 between its opening date of 1 July 2014 and 30 September 2014. This is an average of 40 patients per day. The highest number of presentations since opening at Belconnen was 70 on Wednesday 20 August 2014.
The Chief Minister said the trends of patient presentations from different areas of Canberra were consistent with the patterns, by region, that presented at the Canberra Hospital Walk-in Centre.
“The statistics that the government collected from presentations to the initial Canberra Hospital centre showed that there was a higher proportion of south side residents who used the Walk-in Centre service.
“I am confident that patient numbers from the north side of Canberra will continue to grow as residents become more familiar with the benefits of the service.”
Nurse-led walk-in centres are designed to provide an alternative service for minor illnesses and injuries rather than presenting to the Emergency Department.
“These walk-in centres are a great alternative for people who don’t want to wait at the Emergency Department and it also helps to make sure that our ED’s are reserved for the most serious cases,” the Chief Minister concluded.
(Katy Gallagher Media Release)
Loading ...
