Introducing St John Urgent Care
This is an exciting time of growth for St John Ambulance WA. Representing a new era for the primary health care we offer to the WA community, it means our patients will still receive the highest standard of service, but now under the one, uniformed St John name. We’ve already introduced you to St John Medical and St John Dental and now we would like to introduce you to our third and final service, St John Urgent Care. Read on to find out more.
What is urgent care?
When it’s urgent but not an emergency, chances are you require urgent medical care. Urgent medical care allows for patients with non-life threatening injuries or illnesses to be seen by a doctor in a primary setting and receive the most appropriate care without the need to attend an Emergency Department.
An Urgent Care Centre is an after-hours medical clinic with urgent doctors available. It offers a high-quality, safe and timely alternate care pathway for unscheduled care, and if necessary, X-Rays, pathology and follow-up treatments such as plaster, urgent dental and stitches onsite. Some of the reasons why you would come to an Urgent Care Centre include:
- Possible sprains or broken bones
- Cuts that need stitches or glue
- Sports injuries
- Minor eye and ear problems
- Minor burns and scalds
- Cold and flu symptoms (including sore throats)
- Minor illnesses including fever, infections and rashes
- Insect and animal bites
However, if you’re experiencing any of the following emergencies, it’s highly recommended that you skip Urgent Care and go straight to the Emergency Department or call Triple Zero (000):
- Heart attack or chest pains
- Inability to breathe
- Collapse/seizure/stroke
- Heavy bleeding
- Serious head or neck injury
- Motor vehicle incidents
- Severe stomach pain
- Severe burns
- Bleeding in pregnancy
- Serious mental health problems
- Poisoning or serious allergic reactions
Why urgent care?
Recognising the challenges facing our healthcare system as our population grows and our ability to fund and provide the health services needed becomes more difficult, St John wanted to offer patients a bulk-billed alternate pathway to urgent care that is safe, timely and high-quality. Now under the St John Urgent Care brand, they can.
With a proven track record for success, Urgent Care Centres are seen as best practice globally and have been effective in ensuring the best possible outcomes are achieved for patients from the time of an incident to provision of definitive care. From alleviating stress on emergency departments to reducing ambulance ramping, they have been successful in achieving a number of positive outcomes.
As a result, St John believe that facilitating and investing in alternative healthcare pathways for unscheduled care is the best way to address our healthcare system challenges and continue to deliver the most appropriate health service outcomes for people in need. Therefore, they have opened three St John Urgent Care Centres under the St John Medical name.
Urgent care at St John
If you require urgent attention, visit your nearest St John Urgent Care Centre for all medical and dental matters. Each centre is staffed by a team of highly skilled doctors, nurses and paramedics that will be able to see and treat walk-in patients at the Cockburn, Joondalup and Armadale clinics.
In order to continue delivering effective and efficient ambulance services now and well into the future, our Joondalup and Cockburn centres are open 7 days a week from 8am to 10pm, with Armadale open 10am to 6pm. No appointment is necessary and you will be bulk billed if you bring your current Medicare card (Note: Bulk billing is only made available for current Medicare cardholders where a benefit exists).
If it’s urgent but not an emergency, visit a St John Urgent Care Centre. Alternatively, if you would like to make an appointment with a GP, contact St John Medical or make a booking online.