Grampians Health make changes to its funding model and cuts the cost of Stawell's urgent care treatment

Through aligning its funding model, Grampians Health will eliminate any surplus fees through urgent care treatment at the Stawell hospital.

Grampians Health Chief Strategy and Regions Officer Dr Rob Grenfell said in the past, patients needing the attention of a doctor in urgent care, were charged a fee for the services.

"The fee varied depending on the treatment required from the doctor on duty," Dr Grenfell said.

"The fee was then refundable through Medicare except for a $50 surcharge at the doctor's discretion.

"The new Grampians Health board wants equity across all of its campuses and is changing the funding model to support Stawell and district residents."

Dr Grenfell said the changes would support those requiring urgent care only.

"We need to be mindful that Stawell's Urgent Care is there for emergency care only," he said.

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"Anyone who requires their usual GP are encouraged to continue with consulting their GP or pharmacist with those issues.

"As we are in pressing times with COVID at the moment we are certainly asking the general public to make sure the emergency services are used just for that."

Health authorities are urging people to exercise caution and consider whether they need emergency room treatment, as hospitals across the state face soaring demand.

This comes after a joint statement issued by Ballarat Base Hospital and Ballarat's St John of God Hospital in July, which asked people to only come into emergency if they are extremely unwell.

Grampians Health regional director of hospitals west Carolyn Robertson said the pressure was likely to continue across all Grampians Health campuses.

"We're asking our community to partner with us in our collective effort to protect each other and our health service from the impacts of COVID and flu-like illnesses," she said. "The consequence of not wearing a mask, and not getting vaccinated is that the pressure we are seeing in our hospitals will continue to rise."

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