The Federal Government has announced plans to open five urgent healthcare centres in South Australia, with four to be located in metropolitan areas and one in Mount Gambier. 

The facilities are expected to form part of a larger initiative to establish 50 urgent care centres across the country, fulfilling a Labor party promise during the federal election. 

The new walk-in centres will operate from 8 am to 10 pm, seven days a week, and offer bulk-billed services to patients.

According to SA Health Minister Chris Picton, the urgent care centres will help ease the burden on the state's healthcare system by providing an alternative to emergency departments for non-life-threatening urgent care. 

Mr Picton noted that it is currently challenging to see GPs, particularly after hours or for urgent appointments, and people are waiting nearly 50 per cent longer for a GP appointment compared to a few years ago. 

Furthermore, the number of people who can access home doctors after hours has fallen by 70 per cent in South Australia. As a result, the new centres will give people another option for receiving care.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler says that non-life-threatening category 4 and 5 patients account for more than 40 per cent of presentations to emergency departments in South Australia. 

Urgent care clinics, such as those that will be established, can assist hospitals in focusing their resources on life-threatening emergencies.

Despite the potentially positive developments, the Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) has warned that bulk-billing rates will continue to decline without additional government investment in general practice. Last year, Medicare patient rebates increased by only 1.6 per cent, which is insufficient to cover the increasing costs of running a practice and providing high-quality care. 

Without an urgent boost to general practice care, patients may delay or avoid seeing their GPs and end up in the hospital with more serious conditions.

Expressions of interest for existing GP clinics and community health centres to establish the urgent care centres have opened. 

Although the new urgent care centres will not completely solve the state's primary healthcare issues, they are expected to provide significant assistance in easing the burden on the healthcare system.