South Gippsland Hospital’s Urgent Care Centre (UCC) in Foster is staffed by the ward nurses 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to assist people who require urgent or emergency assessment and treatment, even though it is not a formally funded Emergency Department (ED)
We encourage people to call Ambulance Victoria (AV) on 000 for life threatening / severely painful conditions all hours (such as sudden severe headache, chest pain, broken bones, difficulty breathing, severe burns, severely ill children, reduced consciousness, severe abdominal pain).
The ambulance may not necessarily take you to our hospital in Foster if the paramedics assess your needs as not being able to be met by us, a small rural hospital. They may take you either to Latrobe Regional Health in Traralgon, or Bayside Health’s Wonthaggi Hospital, depending on your condition. It is important to note that we do not have an out-of-hours Medical Imaging service and this may be one reason why you are taken elsewhere.
As we all know, it is always best to go to the doctor’s clinic in hours, yet if you become unwell after hours and you’re not sure whether to come up to the UCC or not, and it’s not a life threatening or severely painful condition warranting you to call for an ambulance, then its best to call ‘Nurse on Call’ (1300 606 024). Please don’t call the hospital directly as this takes nurses away from providing care to our current inpatients.
Should the specialist nurse on the ‘Nurse on Call’ phone, direct you to an emergency department, yet not advise you to call 000, then you may be directed to call the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department (VVED) or present to the Traralgon or Wonthaggi Emergency Departments.
If you are attending our UCC, which is not supplied with stand up medical staff, there’s no obligation to inform us.
Here you will be greeted by one of the ward nurses, who will conduct an assessment to determine whether you are to be engaged in a consultation via the VVED, or if a GP from Foster Medical Centre will be called in, the latter scenario attracting an afterhours gap fee, which is payable at the consultation.
This model is there to support the community most in need, and importantly it ensures our local GPs can sustain their commitment to essential afterhours medical care while maintaining a reasonably healthy work-life balance.
For expectant mothers who have any pregnancy concerns please call Foster Medical Centre clinic on 5682 2088 (during business hours) or our main hospital number on 5683 9777 (afterhours). For any pregnancy complications you can also call 000 any time of the day or night.
Given there are AV charges made to patients being transferred from the UCC to any other hospital, it's important you maintain a current AV membership, health insurance cover or be on a Health Care Card or pension card to avoid the cost. Of course, during business hours for general and ongoing medical treatment, you should make an appointment at the Foster Medical Centre - if you’re an existing patient.
For anyone visiting the area, unfortunately you will find it hard to get a GP appointment in Foster due to capacity issues. You may be best attending your usual GP or checking in Leongatha or Wonthaggi. Paul Greenhalgh
