Health Minister Mark Butler has rejected claims from a peak medical group that a budget funding boost to urgent care clinics was a "missed opportunity" for broader health reform.
The federal government unveiled a $227 million package ahead of Tuesday's federal budget that would see an extra 29 urgent care clinics set up.
The clinics are designed for patients wanting walk-in treatment for injuries or illnesses in order to take pressure off busy hospital emergency departments.
But the Royal Australian College of GPs says the $8.5 billion health investment in the budget needed to target more pressing concerns such as chronic and mental health.
"The fact these measures don't seem to be included in the government's $8.5 billion health budget shows the government has the wrong priorities for fixing our health system," the college's president Nicole Higgins said.
"This looks like a missed opportunity."
Dr Higgins said the boost to urgent care clinics would not adequately address concerns for all patients.
"Urgent care clinics take years to roll out, create confusion for the public and disrupt the care people usually receive from their regular GP," she said.
"These clinics are also likely to redirect limited general practice workforce capacity away from regular clinics where they are needed most."
Mr Butler said he did not understand the criticism.
"It’s never really been very clear why they are opposed to this important program that is delivering terrific care to people, often when they can't get access to their usual GP," he told reporters in Adelaide on Sunday.
"(The urgent care clinics) are not there to replace the usual work of a GP, the usual relationship you'll have with your GP. This is for urgent care that can't wait, that needs to be delivered quickly, often to children."
The funding boost means the number of urgent care clinics will rise to 87.
The budget will also contain funding for clinics located in regional and remote areas.
Since opening, more than 400,000 visits have been made to the clinics, with almost one-third of them being for children under 15.
Medical groups have urged for the federal government to do more in getting junior doctors to become GPs, in a bid to ease shortages, particularly in rural areas.
Mr Butler said the government was aiming to strengthen the relationship between patients and GPs.
"We're trying to make sure that general practice is able to deliver this sort of wraparound, multidisciplinary care that people with complex chronic disease need," he said.
"There are very substantial investments from last year's budget that we're continuing to rollout to do that."
