The Victorian and New South Wales governments have announced joint funding for new urgent care services in both states to take the pressure off hospital emergency departments.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet announced 25 urgent care services partnered with GPs will be funded in each state.
The services will handle conditions such as mild infections, fractures and burns, freeing up resources at hospital emergency departments to handle more serious presentations.
Mr Andrews said the services will operate for extended hours, patients will not be charged, and people without a Medicare card will be able to access GPs.
"Instead of going to a free emergency department, you will go to a free primary care option where you can get all the care that you need as conveniently and as easily as possible," he said.
"Trying to find an after-hours GP who bulk bills has never been harder."
The announcement comes as hospital emergency departments come under unprecedented pressure exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Victoria there were 486,701 presentations at emergency departments during the most recent quarter, while NSW experienced 734,704 attendances in the first quarter of 2022.
Mr Perrottet said states were under pressure to find long-term solutions to the emergency care crisis.
"We've seen in our state over the last 10 years a 30 per cent increase in presentations at our emergency departments and that is not a unique experience, that is happening around the nation," he said.
"Here is an opportunity for two state governments, the largest states in the country, to work together in a space that's not traditionally ours."
Premiers hail rare interstate co-operation
Both state premiers were keen to highlight what the NSW leader called a "new era" of collaboration between the states across party-political lines
"I'm not sitting here at a Labor party fundraiser, I'm sitting here with a Premier who wants to get things done and look after his people," Mr Perrottet said.
"We've brought up that relationship, we've been working very closely together and that's important."
The relationship between the two states was fractious at times during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In September last year, Mr Andrews claimed NSW was getting preferential treatment from the federal government when it came to the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, but the Victorian Premier said he had a good working relationship with his NSW counterpart.
"When it comes to patient care, politics doesn't matter," he said.
"I'm sure there are things we don't agree on, I'm sure there's always a bit of that Sydney-Melbourne rivalry, but at the end of the day you get more done when you work together."
When asked about the announcement, Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy criticised the Andrews government's management of the health crisis.
"I'm really pleased that it takes a Liberal premier to tell Daniel Andrews how to fix the health system," he said.
"In Victoria in 90 days we might have a Liberal premier of our own — we can get on with fixing it down here."
