An Urgent Care team will see patients treated in their own homes or aged care facilities at no cost and offer specialist and multidisciplinary medical and nursing services as well as access to a broad range of allied health services, including social workers, physiotherapists, pharmacists, dietitians and occupational therapists.
The teams will increase their operating hours to seven days a week; 8am to 10pm for patients in aged care facilities, and 8am to 8pm for patients in the community.
Patients can be referred to the response teams through a variety of channels, including GPs, residential aged care facilities or by phoning Healthdirect on 1800 022 222 or by visiting healthdirect.gov.au.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said the Urgent Care teams will help relieve some of the pressure facing emergency departments in the “overwhelmed health system”.
Minister for Health, Ryan Park, said the expansion would make it easier for older people to access high quality urgent care at the right time, from the comfort of their home environment.
“We will treat more patients, deliver more staff and offer more hours through our expansion of these urgent care response teams across Sydney,” he said.
“At the same time, we can alleviate the pressure on our local hospitals by reducing unnecessary presentations to our emergency departments.”
