The Werribee Priority Primary Care Centre (PPCC) is officially opened to residents.
The GP-led centre is now accepting appointments and walk-ins and is suitable to handle a range of conditions and illnesses that require an urgent response but not necessarily a trip in an ambulance or a visit to an emergency department.
The state government hopes the Werribee PPCC, located at 1/5 Station Place, will ease some of the pressure on the
doctors and nurses at the Werribee Mercy Hospital, and will provide access to urgent care on evenings and weekends when many people would otherwise struggle to find a last-minute GP appointment.
“We know it’s hard to see a GP urgently right now. The Werribee Priority Primary Care Centre will give people better access to free care close to home without the need to attend an emergency department,” Werribee MP Tim Pallas said.
“We know from other Priority Primary Care Centres already up and running around Victoria that they are a proven way to ease pressure on our local hospital.”
A GP and nurse are on site at all times, ready and able to treat a range of conditions such as mild infections, fractures and burns. In addition, the PPCC will offer diagnostic services including pathology and medical imaging.
Working in close partnership with their local health service and with Primary Health Networks, PPCCs already in operation across the state have seen more than 12,000 patients, the state government says many of these patients have been directly referred from EDs with others saying they would have had little choice but to present to an ED if it weren’t for this new primary care option.
People with non-urgent medical conditions should still, in the first instance, visit their GP for standard care
or to get any prescriptions for medications they may require.
If facing a medical emergency, people should still call Triple Zero or present to the emergency department.
Details: www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/priority-primary-care-centres-ppccs.
