Caringbah Urgent Care Service takes pressure off hospital ED

The service, which had a low-key opening just before Christmas, operates from 42 President Avenue, on the other side of the road to McDonald's, and is co-located with, but separate to, Caringbah Medical and Dental Centre.

The preferred way to access the service, which operates seven days a week from 8am to 8pm, is by calling healthdirect on 1800 022 222.

However, patients may also walk in, be sent there by a GP or taken by an ambulance if assessed as appropriate by paramedics.

The service is staffed by a triage nurse and a doctor, with 35 treatment time slots available each day. Radiology and pathology is available.

Twenty-five Urgent Care services have been funded by the state government. The network is operated by private health care provider ForHealth.

Director of operations Simon Taylor-Cross said the service "basically provides access to advice and treatment for what is considered an urgent care issue, but something that is not an emergency".

"The sorts of things I am talking about are minor wounds, suspected broken bones, fractures, skin infections, which can be an urgent problem but where, if you went to an ED you would probably have to wait a number of hours after being triaged," he said.

"At Caringbah Urgent Care Service, you have a dedicated doctor and nurse for triage, These services are completely bulk billed if you hold a Medicare card or are a community based asylum seeker."

Mr Taylor-Cross said the average time a patient spent in Urgent Care was 70 minutes and patients were given a discharge summary, which was also sent electronically to their GP.

From a taxpayer's perspective, the cost of a patient using Urgent Care was considerably less than the ED, he said.

Mr Taylor-Cross said Urgent Care was common in other countries, particularly in New Zealand and Britain.

Health Minister Ryan Park said the service was enabling people to access health care in a more timely way, and avoid unnecessary trips to EDs.

Mr Park said thousands of people across the state were being diverted from EDs into more appropriate care.