Urgent Care Clinic opens on South Coast as residents sign to save emergency department

Peter Ryan from the DON'T close Batemans Bay Emergency Department committee said 3000 petitions have already been collected from anxious Eurobodalla locals who don't want to travel up to 90 minutes to receive life-saving care.

People living in suburbs surrounding Batemans Bay would need to travel to the new Eurobodalla Regional Hospital in Moruya if the Batemans Bay emergency department closes. The hospital is expected to open in 2025.

"We've been overwhelmed with support," Mr Ryan said, "There's been a groundswell of businesses that have been chasing us for petitions to display".

Mr Ryan told a packed public forum in Batemans Bay recently that Dr Holland had confirmed the emergency department will close.

The bulk-billing Urgent Care Clinic was an election promise from Gilmore MP Fiona Phillips which is designed to alleviate pressure on the emergency department and GPs.

In September 2023, Ms Phillips said the UCC would be "convenient for the community".

"The centre will be completely bulk-billed meaning that people needing urgent but non-life-threatening care will save on out-of-pocket costs," she said at the time.

On Tuesday, December 5, Ms Phillips, Bega MP Dr Michael Holland and representatives from the Southern NSW Local Health District, Coordinare and ForHealth announced the opening of the UCC inside the Batemans Bay Hospital.

The UCC is located next to the current emergency department.

The UCC is open seven days a week between 8am and 6pm and will be staffed by doctors and nurses to provide treatments for broken bones, cuts, wounds, insect bites, minor ear and eye problems and burns.

Ms Phillips said on December 5 that local hospitals are under pressure and people are travelling too far to get the care they need in "urgent but not life-threatening instances".

"This sees far too many people end up in our overstretched local hospitals unnecessarily."

According to Ms Phillips, more than 55 per cent of presentations to the Batemans Bay Hospital are for non-urgent or semi-urgent care.

Mr Ryan said his committee was not against the UCC but they believe it would simply act as another doctor's surgery.

"[The opening of the UCC] doesn't change our view at all. Call it what you like, it's just another doctor's surgery that bulk bills."

Mr Ryan argues that people could die while being transported from Batemans Bay to the new hospital.

"The forum confirmed that most people in 2536 were not aware that they wouldn't have an emergency department when the new hospital opens.

"This shouldn't be a fight, it should just be common sense."