Heal Specialist Urgent Care on track to open late February as Dr Tim Stewart explains Laverty Pathology, Hunter Imaging Group and Ethos Health partners will join them on site

Emergency specialist and Heal's medical director Dr Tim Stewart said their goal was to bridge the gap between general practice and the ED, and relieve some of the pressure on both.

"The difficulty will be around educating the public around what is urgent care and what is emergency care," Dr Stewart said. "Because we're not a hospital, and we don't do operations and we can't admit patients, it's really for lower acuity injuries and illnesses - where patients can arrive by private car, be met by our concierge and brought directly into the clinic with no waiting time.

"Part of our role is to help navigate the healthcare system for patients, and if they turn up here with something that clearly needs to be in hospital, we'll let them know, and help with that transition to hospital. We want it to be that there's no wrong door."

Dr Stewart said they expect 50 per cent of patients will come in with injuries - like fractures, sprains, strains, lacerations, burns, and foreign bodies stuck in eyes, and the other 50 per cent will be illnesses like respiratory infections, coughs, sore ears, rashes, gastro and migraines.

"All of those conditions that can quite rapidly get out of control at home," he said.

"Those patients often can't access care quick enough in the community, so they do end up in emergency departments.

"Our whole goal here was to offset the burden on the public health system, to help improve accessibility for patients in the community, and also allow our colleagues in emergency departments to focus on emergencies."

Heal Specialist Urgent Care, on the corner of Parry and Union Streets, will also have Laverty Pathology, Hunter Imaging Group, and Ethos Health on site, and will be open seven days.

Although the fee is yet to be set, Dr Stewart said it would be a simple, single facility fee that covered all of the treatment procedures, and any devices like crutches and boots that might be required.

Dr Stewart, with nurse practitioner and director of nursing Jason Carney and business and operations manager Alex Miguel, have put in an expression of interest to work with the state government to deliver urgent care services in NSW.

"We think this model will be the gold standard for specialist urgent care moving forward, so we really set our standards high here in terms of not only the design, but the team, the quality, the consistency, the safety that we're providing for patients," Dr Stewart said.

"And we want to be able to replicate this in other towns in the region.

"Government agrees urgent care is great for community ... They have the same goal that we do, which is to offset that burden on emergency departments.

"So we're interested in developing relationships with government and exploring the opportunities for funding which will help improve accessibility for all patients."

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