The Victorian Government is continuing to provide local Werribee residents with more primary care options with the Werribee Priority Primary Care Centre (PPCC) now up and running.
The GP-led centre is now accepting both bookings and walk-ins and is well equipped to handle a range of conditions and illnesses that require an urgent response but not necessarily a trip in an ambulance or a visit to an emergency department.
The Werribee PPCC, located at 1/5 Station Place, will ease some of the pressure on our hardworking doctors and nurses at the Werribee Mercy Hospital, and will provide access to urgent care on evenings and weekends when many people would otherwise struggle to find a last-minute GP appointment.
Staff including a GP and nurse are on site at all times, ready and able to treat a range of conditions such as mild infections, fractures and burns. In addition, the PPCC will offer diagnostic services including pathology and medical imaging.
There are now 20 centres in operation across Victoria, with another five on the way.
Working in close partnership with their local health service and with Primary Health Networks, PPCCs already in operation across the state have seen more than 12,000 patients [JP(2] – many of these patients have been directly referred from EDs with others saying they would have had little choice but to present to an ED if it weren’t for this new primary care option.
If facing a medical emergency, people should still call Triple Zero or present to the emergency department. However, the PPCC will serve as a valuable addition to the primary care system, offering care for patients with urgent medical conditions when their GP is unavailable.
People with non-urgent medical conditions should still, in the first instance, visit their GP for standard care or to get any prescriptions for medications they may require.
The PPCCs are being delivered by the Victorian Government through a $70 million investment and is a free service available to all Victorians, with or without a Medicare card seeking urgent care.
They are part of a suite of measures that Victoria is taking to address pressures on the health system, including an expansion of the Virtual ED and Better at Home programs, the ongoing rollout of Ambulance Victoria’s Secondary Triage Service and 30 state-funded GP respiratory clinics.
Further information on the PPCCs, including locations and opening hours is available here: www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/priority-primary-care-centres-ppccs.

Quotes attributable to Member for Werribee Tim Pallas
“We know it’s hard to see a GP urgently right now. The Werribee Priority Primary Care Centre will give people better access to free care close to home without the need to attend an emergency department.”
“We know from other Priority Primary Care Centres already up and running around Victoria that they are a proven way to ease pressure on our local hospital.”