CHIEF Minister Katy Gallagher has expressed her pleasure at the numbers of presentations to her new nurse-led walk-in medical centres.

New figures show the services at Belconnen and Tuggeranong nurse-led Walk-in Centres have had 9310 presentations since their opening in June 2014 compared to 5,737 presentations for the same date range in 2013 at Canberra Hospital Walk-in-Centre.

“Canberrans have embraced the new locations for the popular nurse-led walk-in centres in Belconnen and Tuggeranong with almost twice as many people visiting the new centres than was recorded at the Canberra Hospital location in the same months in 2013,” Katy said.

The Walk-in Centre in the Tuggeranong Town Centre saw 5546 presentations between 26 June 2014 and 30 September 2014 which is an average of 57 patients per day. The highest number of presentations since opening at Tuggeranong was 87 on Monday 18 August 2014.

The Belconnen Walk-in Centre (WiC) has seen 4040 between its opening date of 1 July 2014 and 30 September 2014. This is an average of 40 patients per day. The highest number of presentations since opening at Belconnen was 70 on Wednesday 20 August 2014.

Nurse-led walk-in centres are designed to provide an alternative service for minor illnesses and injuries rather than presenting to the Emergency Department.

“These walk-in centres are a great alternative for people who don’t want to wait at the Emergency Department and it also helps to make sure that our ED’s are reserved for the most serious cases,” the Chief Minister concluded.