Construction is now under way on a new nurse walk-in centre in Gungahlin - but not everyone is happy about it.
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It is the third nurse-led centre in Canberra - a model not seen outside the ACT in Australia - offering free one-off treatment from a nurse for people with minor illness and injury.
While popular with the public, the centres have been slammed as a waste of money and with no documented public health benefits by doctors and the opposition.
Minister for Health Meegan Fitzharris said the centre would be popular in the growing Gungahalin community.
"The new Gungahlin Walk-in Centre will be co-located with the existing Gungahlin Community Health Centre on Ernest Cavanagh Street. It will provide the community with access to high quality, extended hours health care services closer to where they live," she said.
"The ACT government is investing $2.9 million to build the new walk-in centre, which is due to open in the third quarter of 2018 with a team of highly skilled Advanced Practice Nurses."
Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation ACT branch secretary Matthew Daniel welcomed the new centre.
"The ANMF ACT Branch welcomes the development of a new Walk-in Centre at Gunghahlin that will provide access to free health services to people in Canberra's north," he said.
"Our highly skilled ACT Nurses are well placed to provide these services, including wound care, treating minor skin conditions and upper respiratory tract infections."
The Gungahlin Walk-in Centre will feature four treatment rooms, a high-ceiling corridor to let natural light into the building and easy access from the public car park.
Designs for the centre are complete and approved, and are based on the successful design of the Belconnen Walk-in Centre, which has been operating since July 2014.
"Our walk-in centres in Belconnen and Tuggeranong are incredibly popular and see more than 36,000 patient presentations every year," Ms Fitzharris said.
"Canberra is a city of people who have busy lives and need after-hours options. Walk-in Centres provide an alternative to other public health services and complement the other services on offer.
"Walk-in Centre nurses can provide referrals and updates back to a patient's GP to enable them to continue providing treatment and advice for these patients' ongoing health needs."
But groups like the AMA and the The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners do not support the nurse-led model, instead supporting a model of integrated centres with nurses and doctors.
Dr Thinus van Rensburg, of Tillyard Drive Medical Practice, has been a long time critic of the plan, questioning what evidence the government has to show they are effective and viable.
He said the centres were inefficient - costing almost $200 a visit - compared to a bulk billed GP visit costing taxpayers just $38, money better spent on addressing things like specialist waiting times.
Figures released by the government show it is spending almost $20,000 a day to run the two existing walk in centres
Opposition spokeswoman for health Vicki Dunne said while Ms Fitzharris spruiked the centres as free, they came at a hefty cost to the taxpayer.
"The reality is, every visit will cost the taxpayer $188, a fact Minister Fitzharris has failed to disclose," she said.
"The nurse led walk-in centres operate under a failed financial model, they will undermine the established GP clinics in Gungahlin."
