Jun 17, 2026 · 34 min · 7 segments
Navigating healthcare as a parent can feel overwhelming. The endless questions, the waiting lists, the late-night uncertainty about whether something is urgent, and the pressure of knowing when to…
Ryan ParkGuestEmmyHostSo was this really, I guess, yeah, that stopgap or that sort of solution for those parents that –
It came about because I think our generation probably had an experience of an emergency department.
I'd have to be missing an arm and a leg before my parents would take me to an emergency department.
But the problem at the moment is that we've had this situation where accessing a GP or accessing primary care particularly bulk billing, has not always been easy.
So with the federal government, their investment, as well as what we're doing in the urgent care space, people can access this.
They can ask for advice that'll patch them into a nurse that can give them a clinical appointment, an appointment to a GP, appointment to a specialist.
If the system's working well, we want emergency departments kept for our sickest patients and their people who need emergency care.
We want everybody else to be able to access care but in a way that doesn't impact on our EDs that are just getting too busy and far too many people.
So that's why the investment in those urgent care services when you need care but it's not an emergency is just so important.
Yeah, it is.
And I have used them myself.
I mean, I've had a situation where my son had a wheelchair roll over his foot and he couldn't walk and we were really quite worried, but he couldn't go to the GP.
It wasn't really something that I thought was critical.
And that sort of the urgent care was such a relief because it was something we could assess and...
Yeah,
You're not asking people to go to an urgent care service if they've been in a car accident or they've had massive chest pain or they've collapsed.
So was this really, I guess, yeah, that stopgap or that sort of solution for those parents that –
It came about because I think our generation probably had an experience of an emergency department.
I'd have to be missing an arm and a leg before my parents would take me to an emergency department.
But the problem at the moment is that we've had this situation where accessing a GP or accessing primary care particularly bulk billing, has not always been easy.
So with the federal government, their investment, as well as what we're doing in the urgent care space, people can access this.
They can ask for advice that'll patch them into a nurse that can give them a clinical appointment, an appointment to a GP, appointment to a specialist.
If the system's working well, we want emergency departments kept for our sickest patients and their people who need emergency care.
We want everybody else to be able to access care but in a way that doesn't impact on our EDs that are just getting too busy and far too many people.
So that's why the investment in those urgent care services when you need care but it's not an emergency is just so important.
Yeah, it is.
And I have used them myself.
I mean, I've had a situation where my son had a wheelchair roll over his foot and he couldn't walk and we were really quite worried, but he couldn't go to the GP.
It wasn't really something that I thought was critical.
And that sort of the urgent care was such a relief because it was something we could assess and...
Yeah,
You're not asking people to go to an urgent care service if they've been in a car accident or they've had massive chest pain or they've collapsed.
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