ALP to build new Medicare Urgent Care Clinic to take pressure off Tamworth hospital, if it wins government

The party claims the new facility will help take pressure off the city's hospital, which has one of the busiest emergency rooms in rural NSW.

New England duty Senator Tim Ayres, who will travel to Tamworth today to announce the policy, said the clinic will open seven days a week from at least 8am to 10pm - "the time when the majority of non-life-threatening injuries occur".

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"Tamworth families are already struggling to access emergency care, and are under pressure from rising out-of-pocket costs to see a GP, which only contributes to the strain on household budgets," he said.

"Under the Nationals, out-of-pocket costs to see a GP in New England have gone up by 45 per cent."

The clinics, which will cost the taxpayer $135 million and are set to be established in "existing GP clinics or Community Health Centres", are designed to fill the gap between a GP and a hospital emergency room.

They would also be required to bulk bill, stay open during "extended business hours" - at least 8am to 10pm - seven days a week, and take walk-ins.

Based on a New Zealand medical model, which has helped keep hundreds of thousands of Kiwis out of the country's emergency rooms, the clinics would be able to treat sprains and broken bones, cuts, wounds, insect bites, minor ear and eye problems and minor burns.

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Shadow minister for health and ageing, Mark Butler, has vowed to open all 50 of the new clinics by July 2023, if elected.

"Medicare is the bedrock of our health system and by using it to help take the pressure off hospital emergency departments we make can the whole system stronger," he said.

Gunnedah Early Childhood Hub representative Rebecca Ryan said the plan sounded great - so long as the party had a plan to staff the centre.

She said Gunnedah's Rural Health Clinic remains empty due to a lack of doctors, and the new centre could face the same fate without proper planning.

However, she said it would probably be a major boon for Gunnedah residents, particularly on a weekend. Even an ear ache will send them to Tamworth hospital, she said.

"In NSW we've been let down by consecutive federal and state governments who have not been reading the signs, have not been looking to the future," she said.

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