Page159 - Week 01 - Thursday, 3 December 2020
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our emergency department, but those lower categories of 4 and 5 have continued to reduce.
What I can tell Mr Davis is that from 1 January this year to 30 November there were 16,169 presentations at the Tuggeranong Walk-In Centre. This really demonstrates that the walk-in centres continue to be a stand-out success for the ACT, and the number of presentations is a demonstration of what we hear also from our community that Canberrans and Tuggeranongites—what’s the right word for people who live in Tuggeranong?
Mr Davis: Tuggeranites.
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: That Tuggeranites are big fans of the walk-in centre. Of course, the Tuggeranong Walk-In Centre was established in 2014 as part of the expanded Tuggeranong Community Health Centre, so that $18.9 million investment to build the Tuggeranong Community Health Centre with the walk-in centre has delivered not only the walk-in centre but a range of appointment-based services in a refurbished building including: maternal and child health; early parenting support; allied health; adult community mental health support; alcohol and drug counselling; community nursing; and allied health services including physiotherapy and podiatry, dental and oral health and nutrition. So it really is about health care closer to home for Tuggeranites.
MR DAVIS: Minister, what is the government’s strategy to encourage more use of the walk-in centres and to lessen the burden on our emergency healthcare departments?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Mr Davis for the supplementary. Well, of course we have seen our emergency departments very busy over the last month. Members would be very well aware of that. So we are working to encourage Canberrans to understand what can be treated at walk-in centres and to let them know that walk-in centres are open from 7.30 am to 10 pm every day of the year, providing local, fast and, importantly for some of the most vulnerable members of our community, free access to health care for one-off issues. That is obviously a wide range of issues, and if people download the ACT Health app they can get a broader cross-section of that.
But the top five presentations at walk-in centres include for wound dressings, musculoskeletal conditions, colds, wounds such as simple lacerations and ear conditions. Having spoken to an advanced practice nurse at one of our walk-in centres, I know the difference it makes when people can come in and have their ear conditions treated for free and professionally by our highly trained and skilled nurses. It makes a massive difference to their wellbeing.
We really want everybody in the ACT to download the ACT Health app, which provides real-time average wait times for the walk-in centres and for Canberra Hospital and Calvary Public Hospital emergency departments, helping consumers to understand what is available and to get the right health care when and where they need it.
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