What is changing? What is an Urgent Care Clinic?
Effective 18 December 2025, urgent and acute care patient services previously delivered at the VMC facility on Torrens St will now be provided at the new Victor Harbor Medicare Urgent Care Clinic (MUCC) located at 65 Ocean St, Victor Harbor.
The MUCC is open 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, 365 days a year. Appointments can be made by calling 08 7544 8338, and walk-ins are welcome. Patient entry is via Ocean St only, and the rear entry facing Torrens St is reserved at all times for staff parking and ambulance arrivals. All patients must check in with the reception desk upon arrival. Free parking for patients is available at the McKinlay St car park at 26 McKinlay St.
The new Victor Harbor MUCC is a newly renovated, purposefully designed facility featuring:
- A large waiting area
- 5 consultation rooms
- A separate nurse observation and triage room
- A dedicated procedure room
- A separate and renovated disabled access toilet
- A separate baby changing/breast feeding room
The MUCC is equipped to manage a wide range of urgent care presentations. All services are bulk billed.
For more information, visit: www.victorurgentcare.com.au
Is the Victor Harbor MUCC the same practice as Victor Medical Centre?
No. The Victor Harbor MUCC operates separately from VMC under the federally funded MUCC program, in partnership with Country SA PHN. The MUCC program is based on federal legislation designed to improve access to time-sensitive primary care. As such, operational procedures and requirements for the MUCC are distinct from those of a general practice and the MUCC is operated as a separate entity.
Why isn’t the MUCC operated from the existing Treatment Area inside VMC on Torrens St?
Aside from the aforementioned MUCC operating requirements, we recognise the VMC Treatment Area has evolved into a single space serving different patient populations with different needs. Examples of this include:
- Scheduled clinical assessment services, such as Driver License checks.
- Chronic care services, such as routine wound dressing changes. These patients sometimes need extra time, attention, and space for their care.
- Urgent/acute care services, such as respiratory infections or fractures. These patients are often in a measure of distress and require rapid, time-sensitive care.
After careful consideration, the decision was made to operate the MUCC in a separate, purposefully designed facility to provide focused care for each patient group according to their individual needs. Lastly, the MUCC is located and operated separately to allow both services to scale independently as community demand increases.
Do I need to be a patient of VMC to attend the MUCC?
No. The MUCC is a community resource providing rapid access to bulk-billed primary care for appropriate urgent/acute care presentations to anyone with a Medicare card.
Does the MUCC replace my need for my existing GP?
No. The MUCC is specifically designed to complement local health services provided by GPs, hospitals, allied health, and ambulance services. Patients attending the MUCC will receive a discharge summary to share with their regular GP or healthcare professional.
What is happening with the existing ‘Duty Doctor’ services at VMC?
The VMC Treatment Area and Duty Doctor services at 11 Torrens St will continue to focus on scheduled, non-acute treatments. Appointments can be made by calling 08 8551 3200 and selecting Option 0. We understand there may be some initial confusion on the difference between the services provided by the MUCC on Ocean St and VMC on Torrens St, and we will look to address those questions in the coming days.
Will VMC on Torrens St be open on weekends?
No. Before the establishment of the MUCC, VMC provided urgent/acute care on weekends until the early afternoons based on demand. With urgent care now available at the MUCC 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM daily, including weekends and public holidays, VMC on Torrens St will now be closed on weekends. Patients needing urgent or acute care on weekends from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM should contact the MUCC.
The establishment of the MUCC represents approximately 10 additional hours per week of urgent/acute care patient services available to the community, as well as care on public holidays.
How will the MUCC be staffed? Will my regular VMC doctor be working in the MUCC?
MUCC staffing consists of 1-2 receptionists, 2 nurses, and 2 physicians working each day. Physicians and nurses may come from the VMC roster, and we are currently expanding the pool of doctors and nurses from across the region to work in the MUCC.
Will it be more difficult for me to get an appointment with my regular VMC doctor now that the MUCC is open?
This question is difficult to answer for all doctors as they largely set their own hours based on their own individual parameters. However, the establishment of the MUCC should not create less availability across the board for regular GP consultations provided at VMC.
A tangible example of this is that historically a given doctor might work a 5-hour shift on Saturday plus a 5-hour shift on Sunday providing acute care in the VMC Treatment Area on Torrens St. Now, that same doctor may work a single 10-hour shift on either a Saturday or Sunday in the MUCC on Ocean St.
In the longer term, attracting more doctors to work in the region at both VMC and the MUCC should help VMC doctors to increase their availability for consultations without the doctor working longer hours or cutting appointment lengths. However, this is a systemic change that will take time and effort to realise.
How will we address misinformation about the MUCC on social media?
We monitor and respond to feedback according to our Privacy Policy, and we are sometimes made aware of comments on platforms like Facebook. While some information on social media is accurate, much of it can be incorrect or speculative.
As the MUCC is a federally funded program operated under federal guidelines with the Country SA PHN, we are sometimes limited in what we can publicly say. Our approach is to encourage the community to seek MUCC information from official sources:
