# Indigenous People’s Use of a Primary Urgent Care Centre at a GP-Led Primary Healthcare Service in Regional Queensland in 2020–2021

## TL;DR

Indigenous people in regional Queensland used a primary urgent care center more than non-Indigenous people, with different patterns in arrival times and reasons for visits.

## Contribution

This study provides insights into how Indigenous patients use urgent care services differently, highlighting the need for tailored healthcare models.

## Key findings

- Indigenous patients made up 9.8% of PUCC attendees, higher than their 3.8% share in the general population.
- Indigenous patients were more likely to be new to the GP service compared to non-Indigenous patients.
- Peak attendance times and common reasons for visits differed between Indigenous and non-Indigenous patients.

## Abstract

To explore Indigenous patients’ use of a primary urgent care centre (PUCC) at a co-located general medical practitioner (GP)-led primary healthcare service (GP service) in regional Queensland, Australia, secondary data analysis was conducted using the 65,420 deidentified PUCC patients from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021, including Indigenous status. A Mann–Whitney U test and Chi-Square test were used to analyse patients’ arrival times, reasons to attend PUCC, and frequency of attendance. The proportion of Indigenous patients from the communities attending the PUCC was 9.8% while the proportion of Indigenous people in the general population was only 3.8%. Indigenous patients were more likely to be new patients to the GP service (13.6% never visited the GP service prior to PUCC) compared to non-Indigenous (9.6%) patients. The peak hours of attendance for Indigenous people were 11 a.m.–12 p.m. and 2 p.m.–3 p.m. while it was 10 a.m.–12 p.m. for non-Indigenous patients. The most common reason for attending PUCC for both patient groups was superficial injuries. The second most common reason was digestive issues for Indigenous patients and musculoskeletal issues for non-Indigenous patients. These findings provide insights for enhancing future PUCC models to better meet the community needs, especially the underserved Indigenous population in regional areas.