Urgent care centre open

A NEW Ballarat Priority Primary Care Centre opened on Windermere Street this week, designed to cater to urgent medical conditions, not emergencies.

Led by UFS Medical general practitioners, it has been established to reduce the demand on the emergency departments at Ballarat Base and St John of God hospitals.

The PPCC is the first of its kind in Victoria to open outside of Melbourne and has been funded by the Western Victoria Primary Health Network.

“Originally the aim was to have this centre open before Christmas, but with great stakeholder collaboration and a lot of hard work, we are thrilled that we are able to start providing this much needed service for the community,” UFS Dispensaries CEO Matt Vagg said.

“The centre will initially be open from 10am to 8pm on weekdays, and 10am to 2pm Saturdays.

“We are currently working with council on a new permit for an extension of these hours, and we look forward to being open longer in the future to meet the needs of the Ballarat community.”

WVPHN acting CEO Andrew Giddy said mild infections, fractures and burns will be easily treated at the PPCC. Patients identified as having non-urgent conditions will be referred to their GP.