12/03/2025
📌 Bendigo Medicare Urgent Care Clinic – Your Questions Answered! 📌
We've heard your questions and want to clear up any confusion about how the Bendigo Medicare Urgent Care Clinic works. Here’s what you need to know!
🩺 What is the Bendigo Medicare Urgent Care Clinic?
It's a walk-in clinic providing urgent medical care for non-life-threatening conditions when your regular GP is unavailable. It helps ease pressure on the Emergency Department and supports your GP if they can’t fit you in on the day. Anyone who meets our inclusion criteria can be seen.
🚶♂️ Can I walk in without an appointment?
Yes! You can walk in, but patients are triaged – meaning we assess your condition and provide you with the best care option and an estimated time for when you will be seen. This helps reduce unnecessary waiting time in the clinic.
📞 Should I call ahead?
Yes! Calling ahead can help reduce your wait time. Our team will give you an estimated consultation time (sometimes referred to as an "Appointment" for simplicity) so you don’t have to sit around unnecessarily.
⏳ Will I have to wait?
Patients are seen based on urgency, not arrival time. If your condition is not urgent, you may be given a later time to return—so you can wait comfortably elsewhere instead of in a waiting room.
🔹 Important: The time you are seen may change depending on the urgency of other patients.
🤔 The waiting room looks quiet—does that mean the clinic isn't busy?
Not necessarily! Our team works hard to stagger patient arrival times (sometimes called an appointment for simplicity), so fewer people are waiting in the clinic unnecessarily. Even if the waiting room looks quiet, our team is likely still very busy!
🏥 Is my given consultation time an actual appointment?
No, the time we give you is indicative, not a fixed appointment. If a more urgent or complex case arrives, they may be seen first. We do our best to keep wait times as accurate as possible, but delays can happen.
⏰ When is the clinic open?
Our hours are designed to match peak demand and available staff. We closely monitor data to ensure we are open when the community needs us most:
🕒 Monday: 10:00 AM – 10:00 PM
🕒 Tuesday: 10:00 AM – 10:00 PM
🕒 Wednesday: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
🕒 Thursday: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
🕒 Friday: 10:00 AM – 10:00 PM
🕒 Saturday: 10:00 AM – 10:00 PM
🕒 Sunday: 10:00 AM – 10:00 PM
🔹 Why do we open at 10:00 AM? This gives patients the chance to check with their regular GP first before coming to Urgent Care. We are not a replacement for your regular GP if they can see you on the day.
🔹 We manage patient flow throughout the day to ensure we can close on time and avoid needing to redirect patients at the end of the day.
🚨 What if my condition is serious?
For life-threatening emergencies, call 000 or go to the Emergency Department immediately.
🔹How is the service funded?
The Bendigo Medicare Urgent Care Clinic exists thanks to years of advocacy from local stakeholders, working to create a service that supports local GP clinics and helps ease pressure on the local Emergency Department.
The Clinic provides bulk-billed services to patients who meet the inclusion criteria, with crucial support funding from the Commonwealth and State Departments of Health, delivered through Murray Primary Health Network (PHN).
This funding ensures that our community has accessible, high-quality urgent care when they need it most!
Got more questions? Go to the Bendigo Primary Care Centre webpage.
